Paes, Nirupama in round 2
of Wimbledon qualifiers
Shailesh Soni
Indian tennis ace Leander Paes moved into the second round of the singles qualifiers at Wimbledon 2001, defeating Ivaylo Traykov of Bulgaria 7-6(5), 6-2.
Peas, who is playing singles after a long interval, took time to settle down. The Indian was down two mini breaks at one stage in the first set tie-breaker after Traykov was serving with a 5-3 lead. However, he came back strongly and won four points in a row to take the set.
After taking the first set, the Indian was on song in the second, and quickly raced away with the match.
Paes will face Mose Navarra of Italy in the second round. Navarra, ranked 219 on the ATP, upset 17th seed Ota Fukarek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 in the first round.
In Paes's half of the draw, Alex O'Brien of the United States upset seventh seed Federico Luzzi of Italy 6-7(5-7), 7-6(8-6), 6-4. O'Brien will face Lorenzo Manta of Switzerland in the second round. Manta defeated Zbynek Mlynarik of Austria 6-1, 6-2 in his first round match.
The draw has become wide open as no seeds are left in Paes's part of the draw. Navarra, 27, though is a good grass court player, but Paes is 2-0 against him. Paes had defeated him 6-4, 6-4 on grass at Baroda in 1998, and then 6-4, 7-6 in Calcutta, also on grass, the following year.
Some notable players to move into second the round are: Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, Yong-Il Yoon of Kroea, Takao Suzuki of Japan, Alex O'Brien of the United States, Todd Woodbridge of Australia and Daniel Nestor of Canada.
In the women's singles qualifying, Nirupama Vaidyanathan staged a grand rally to get the better of Mirjana Lucic of Crotia 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 in the first round.
Mirjana Lucic was Mahesh Bhupathi's mixed doubles partner at Wimbledon in 1998 and the pair finished runner-up in the mixed doubles event.
The Indian will face 16th seed Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic in the second round. Koukalova defeated Petra Rampre of Slovakia 7-5, 7-6(7-2) in the first round.
