Robredo forces Paes to swallow the bitter pill

By Nirmal Shekar

CHENNAI, JAN. 2. For Indians, these days, tennis is all about team work - which, of course, means it takes more than one player on one half of the court to find any kind of success.

It's the old cliche in play - united, Indian tennis players stand, and progress too in style. But put them alone on the court, and they seem clueless and lost in the wicked wilderness of singles play.

That this logic should apply to the man who almost single- handedly kept the nation's flag flying right through the 1990s on the world scene - Leander Paes - is a pity. But, nonetheless, this is the truth, harsh truth, bitter truth, but truth all the same.

Even as he aspired to, and reached stratospheric levels in doubles play in the company of Mahesh Bhupathi, creating history in 1999 by winning two Grand Slam titles, Paes's fortunes as a singles player have dipped considerably over two seasons.

And, tonight, going out on court as the last Indian hope - quite apart from being the great Indian hope - in singles, Paes played perhaps his poorest match here since losing to Gaston Etlis of Argentina in the first round in 1997.

The Indian Davis Cup hero's opponent was a gutsy, talented 18- year old Spaniard called Tommy Robredo, world ranked 131. Robredo, like all Spaniards brought up on clay, is just about getting used to playing on hardcourts.

And, on Tuesday, the Spanish teenager stayed in the fight courageously in the first set and then blanked out the jaded Indian star in the second for a 7-6 (4), 6-0 first round victory.

Despite timing the ball poorly, Paes suggested for a while that he'd pull through merely on the strength of his experience and heart. When he hit an ace to stave off a breakpoint in the ninth game, you believed the man's steely resolve will carry him through.

But, that was not to be. After opening a 2-0 lead in the tiebreak, Paes was done-in by the tape on the fourth point and he slammed his racquet on the net in frustration. From that point, he seemed to lose faith in himself and the slide was dramatic.

``I have never done anything like that before. I felt very bad about it. I apologised to the chair umpire and to my opponent. But I kept thinking about it and lost concentration,'' said Paes. ``Now I just have to put this behind me and think about playing better tennis in doubles.''

Paes double faulted to go down 4-5 and Robredo charged ahead to close out the set on serve before running away with the second in quick time.

Paes's success percentage was 65 on first serves and a meagre 42 on second and he managed to save just one of four breakpoints he faced - not winning statistics, really, on a day when Robredo fought off all the four breakpoints he faced.

``I like playing on clay. But now a host of us Spanish players are doing well on hard court too. It is a very good time for Spanish tennis,'' said Robredo. ``I played very well. I gained confidence after winning the tiebreak.''

Earlier on the centre court, in a close match that wonderfully took wing in the decider, Cedric Pioline of France, a Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist and a semifinalist here last year, played matador to slay a raging bull from Andorra. The Frenchman, seeded three, beat Galo Blanco of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Blanco is all of 5ft 8in, which means he must have been reminded constantly by friend and foe that he probably chose the wrong profession. But few players his size have the sort of arsenal that the sinewy 24-year old Spaniard commands.

Most of the early visitors to the stadium perhaps believed this was going to be a stroll in the park for Pioline and they perhaps even hoped it would be because the next match on court featured Leander Paes.

But, on this day, it did not take long for Blanco to win over the crowd. And he did not do it with any kind of gimmicks but plain, gut-spilling competitive tennis. Serving as well as anyone his size might be expected to do, and hitting some amazing passes and return winners, especially on the forehand, Blanco thought nothing of tearing the script to shreds, for a start.

Taking the ball early for punishing returns and darting about the court like a dervish, Blanco took command of the first set midway, after staving off a breakpoint to hold serve to 2-2.

Pioline, who had a poor second half of the season in 2000, largely because of a hand surgery - he broke three metacarpal bones in his left hand while playing volleyball - in July, took time to settle down. This was obvious from the series of mishits early in the match.

Yet, for his part, Blanco never took his foot off the pedal, constantly putting pressure on the veteran Frenchman's serves with blistering returns. The Spaniard broke Pioline first in the seventh game and closed out the set a little later with another break in the ninth game, one that was secured a forehand return winner.

Pioline would not have the track record he does if he was not capable of turning things around in a situation like this. And the Frenchman moved into over-drive in the second set, breaking Blanco twice in succession for a 3-0 lead.

The bull had not been tamed. Not yet. But the matador had sent out a subtle signal. The equations were now clear.

Or, were they? For, even after Pioline took the second set, Blanco was in no mood to surrender. In fact, for much of the decider, he looked the stronger competitor until the first crack appeared - were they the first doubts to be planted in the young man's mind? - in the 10th game.

But, responding to cries of ``Blanco, Blanco'' in the stands, the Spaniard fought off a matchpoint on serve in the 10th game to take the set into a tiebreak. And here again, things were pretty tight before he hit a backhand into the net on the 10th point.

Finally came that double fault which ended the match. For such an exciting contest it was a rather tame end. The bull had been slain but, for the matador, it hadn't been easy.

``At the beginning of the year, it is always tough. He is a very good player,'' said Pioline. ``I was too defensive at the start. I told myself after losing the first set that I had to get more aggressive. I am happy because I can play another match here.''

Pioline goes on to meet the only other 30-something in the main draw here - apart from the Frenchman, that is - in the second round. The 31-year old Frenchman takes on the 36-year old Ronald Agenor of Haiti.

Agenor should probably be renamed Agenot. At 36, most guys have already spent a year on the Senior Tour or perhaps three or four years coaching youngsters. But the Haitian, the oldest active player in the top 150, is still at it.

Today, Agenor beat Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic, 12 year his junior, rather handily, winning 6-3, 6-2 even as Andreas Vinciguerra from Sweden, seeded six, got past Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Meanwhile, the defending champion, Jerome Golmard of France, was taken to a third set by George Bastl of Switzerland. Golmard, who had a problem with his right hamstring and was treated on court by Dr.Vece Paes, finally came through 7-5, 6- 7(3), 6-1.

Other results: first round: Kristian Pless (Denmark) bt Wayne Black (Zimbabwe) 6-2, 7-5.

Monday's results:

Singles: first round: Byron Black (Zim) bt Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Cyril Sauliner bt Emilio Alvarez (Esp) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles: First round: Frantisek Cermak and Ota Fukarek (Cze) bt Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal (Ind) 6- 2, 6-4; Paul Rosner and Weir Smith (RSA) bt Magnus Norman and Oleg Ogorodov 5-7, 6-4, 7- 5; Vadim Kutsenko (CZE) & Aisam Qureshi (PAK) bt Petr Kovacka & Pavel Kudrnac (CZE) 1-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Doubles qualifying round: M. Tabara and T. Zib (Cze) bt T. Robredo and M. Youzhny (Rus) 7-6, 6-4.

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