Paes surmounts his own erratic serve, Stepanek

By Kamesh Srinivasan

CHANDIGARH, FEB. 21. In the professional league it is a struggle every day, for there are no easy opponents. On many days you need a strong will to handle your own indifferent form, along with the challenges posed by the man across the net.

Leander Paes showed the traits of a champion slugger, as he answered the probing queries from Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic with a 7-5, 6-3 victory, subduing the problems caused by his own erratic first serves, in the pre-quarterfinals of the Indian Oil Servo 25,000-dollar Challenger tournament at the CLTA Stadium here on Wednesday.

It was a commendable performance from the 27-year-old Davis Cup star to have got broken only twice in the match, when he faced 15 breakpoints in all in eight of his 11 service games. With only a 60 per cent first serve success rate, Leander was unable to put pressure on his opponent who was returning very well.

Yet, Leander won the hearts with his superb athleticism and remarkable anticipation. It was a treat for the few hundred present as he came up with unbelievable volleys to take the breath away. He had 18 volley winners apart from eight others. The best applause was reserved for a pick of a drop, when he raced across from one end of the baseline to execute a passing shot that fetched him a 5-2 lead in the first set.

Stepanek applauded that effort, but the Czech was a fighter to the core and shot back with a break in the ninth game, as Leander put a volley long after saving one of the three breakpoints in that game.

Quite uncharacteristically, Stepanek committed a doublefault in the 12th game to set up a matchpoint, and Leander clinched the set with a backhand down the line winner.

In the second set, Leander got broken in the first game, but did well to regroup his focus, to break his opponent in the second and fourth games, for a 4-1 lead. Stepanek himself won a few rounds of applause from the appreciative crowd, and did well to save a breakpoint in the sixth game, and two matchpoints in the eighth game. He was also sporting in conceding a first serve for Leander, on a bad call against the Indian, to present a contrasting picture to Leander's first round opponent, Nir Welgreen, who had been a picture of gamesmanship.

The erratic form teased Leander till the end, as he faced two breakpoints in the ninth game, but he pulled through, converting the third matchpoint in that game to finish the contest in an hour and 45 minutes.

Leander's only ace came in the last game, and he had six doublefaults. He did cut down on his errors in the second +set, but had overall 46 mistakes, to 45 by his opponent. Stepanek had five aces, six doublefaults and 13 winners. The Czech could have fancied his chances anybody else, but not Leander. It will be the turn of another Czech, the fourth-seeded Frantisek Cermak, to challenge Leander in the quarterfinals.

The other Indian Davis Cupper, Syed Fazaluddin, could not enact any such heroics. He started on a promising note, but his challenge fizzled out within no time, as he crashed to a 3-6, 2-6 defeat against the 432nd ranked Per Thornadtsson of Sweden in the first round.

The presence of the chairman of selectors, Shyam Minotra, could inspire Fazaluddin only to some extent. Fazaluddin lacked the punch in his strokes and speed in his legs to make a match of it this day.

Against an opponent who was whipping winners at will, the 662nd- ranked was far too erratic, to repeat his brave fight against the top-seeded Filippo Volandri of Italy in Mumbai last week.

Fazaluddin will have a chance to make amends when he plays the doubles with Nitin Kirtane, who had himself frittered away the advantage of winning the first set in his singles match on Tuesday.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Dennis van Scheppingen (Ned) bt Gerald Mandl (Aut) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Ota Fukarek (Cze) bt Artem Derepasko (Rus) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Frantisek Cermak (Cze) bt Giorgio Galimberti (Ita) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Leander Paes bt Radek Stepanek (Cze) 7-5, 6-3.

First round: Per Thornadtsson (Swe) bt Syed Fazaluddin 6-3, 6-2; Donavan September (RSA) bt Mustafa Ghouse 0-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Oleg Ogorodov (Uzb) and Andy Ram (Isr) bt Miles MacLagan (GBR) bt Noam Okun (Isr) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Jamie Delgado (GBR) and Dennis van Scheppingen (Ned) bt Fred Hemmes jr (Ned) and Martin Spottl (Aut) 6-3, 6-4; Giorgio Galimberti (Ita) and Nir Welgreen (Isr) bt Nitin Kirtane and Syed Fazaluddin 6-0, 6-3; Stefano Galvani (Ita) and Igor Kunitcin (Rus) bt Ota Fukarek (Cze) and Branislav Sekac (Svk) 6-4, 6-2; Brandon Hawk (US) and Todd Perry (Aus) bt Boris Borgula and Ladislav Svarc (Svk) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

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