Topic suggested by bull on Wed Aug 26 12:24:15 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.
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Leander Paes did really well in the Pilot Pen tournament defeating Mark Rosset, Sergi Breguera and Pete Sampras in consecutive matches. It took him from a world ranking of 100 to 73 this week. But even though the ESPN page and CNN page call him Doubles specialist, the Paes-Bhupati duo called the Indian Express seem to have lost their sting this year. Will Paes continue on from his 73 or is he plateuing? |
Responses:
- From: bull (@ horus.erlm.siemens.de)
on: Fri Aug 28 00:17:02
This posting is from the Rediff article by Shailesh Soni
Leander Paes will face Alex O'Brien of USA in the first round of the US Open.
Leander is in the 3rd quarter, in the bottom half of the draw. His potential second round opponent will be fifth seed Richard Krajicek.
The other seeded players in his quarter are 13th seed Tim Henman and 4th seed Petr Korda. Other potential opponents in his quarter are Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer, and Richard Fromberg.
The year has not been good for Alex O'Brien so far. He was ranked in the top 30 in early 1997. He had also won the New Haven title in August 1996 But went down the rankings during mid-1997.
He started this year at just inside the top-100, but has been outside that for most of the year. He has not even reached a single ATP semifinal in almost two years.
He occasionally beats top-100 players, but loses more often than not. Alex did well recently at Toronto ATP tournament, for instance, beating
Kuerten and Delgado before losing to Krajicek. He then lost a close three-setter to Corretja at Cincinnati in the first round, and beat Max Mirnyi at New Haven before losing badly to Kuerten.
Leander and Alex O'Brien have never played against each other in singles. They have met many times in doubles, with Leander winning most of the time. It was Alex who called Leander's game-winning shot at the Hartford semifinals against the Lareau/O'Brien combine as the "Egyptian Magician" shot.
As for Krajicek, Leander has faced him once before, at Dubai Open in 1997, where Leander reinjured himself and lost, 7-5, 4-6, 2-6.
Leander has 71 points to defend from the two rounds he won last year at the Open. If he does not defend the points -- that is, if he does not win the first two rounds -- he could drop back to just outside 90s in rankings, which will not be helpful for him for making into the tough 56-draws for Stuttgart Open and the Paris Indoor Super 9s, for both of which the entries close soon after the US Open.
- From: raja m (@ spider-wg063.proxy.aol.com)
on: Sat Aug 29 08:37:31
Though Leander Paes has had some success in international competition, as far as I see, he will be just one more player who existed. For Indians he has more importance. India has done well in Davis Cup, but winning is the name of the game.
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