US Open: Paes-Begemann go down fighting in opening round

Veteran Indian star Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann crashed out of the men's doubles competition at the US Open tennis tournament with a first round loss to Stephane Robert of France and Dudi Sela of Israel here on Friday.

The Indo-German duo gave a tough fight before going down 6-2, 5-7, 4-6 in one hour and 59 minutes.

Robert and Sela will now take on Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Alexander Peya of Austria in the second round.

The 12th seeded Polish-Austrian team defeated Americans Eric Quigley and Nicolas Meister 7-6, 6-1 in their opening round encounter.

Paes and Begemann enjoyed a superb start, breaking their opponents in the very first game to gain the early advantage.

They broke their opponents again in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead and then held their serve to take the set.

The Indo-German combination grabbed the early initiative in the second set as well, forcing a break of serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead.

The set then went with the serve which saw Paes and Begemann on the verge of taking the set with a 5-4 lead.

Robert and Sela however, staged a spirited comeback to earn a break of serve and level the scores at 5-5. They then held their serve before forcing another break to take the set and draw level.

In the third set, Paes and Begermann again earned a break in the opening game to take the early lead. Both teams held their serve thereafter before Robert and Sela broke their Indo-German opponents in the eighth game.

They held their serve in the next game to take the lead at 5-4 before another break of serve in the 10th game handed them the set and the match.

--IANS

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