Paes-Damm pair crashes out of Germany event

New Delhi, June 14 (UNI) Third seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm crashed out of the doubles event losing 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 8-10 to the unheralded duo of C Haggard and J Novak in the first round of the 680,250 euro Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament at Halle, Germany, today.

The Indo-Czech pair was unlucky to go down in the first set in the tie-break against their South African-Czech opponents in a see-saw battle with both sides conceding one break point each, according to information received here.

Paes-Damm then came back in the second snatching a break point from their opponents to stretch the match to the decider.

In the third set, both sides held on to their serves, but the marathon tie-breaker went in favour of Hoggard-Novak to seal an upset win.

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