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

New York, Sep 2 (IANS) 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.