(Rptg with correction in line 3, para 2)

New Delhi, Aug 3 (UNI) Fourth seeded Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Martin Damm made an early, ignominious exit from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington with a straight set, first round defeat against unheralded wild card pair of Ramon Delgado and Rick Leach.

The vastly experienced Paes and his Czech partner came a cropper against Delgado of Paraguay and local favourite Leach and went down 3-6, 4-6 rpt 4-6.

Despite their impressive track record, Paes and Damm never looked in comfort against their little known rivals and their scrappy show saw the first set slipping through their fingers.

Paes and Damm have been in similar situations in the past and bailed themselves out on umpteen number of times but that was not to be here. Despite a slight improvement in their coordination, it was too little and too late as their rivals walked away with the match.

Meanwhile, it was all over for US-based Neha Uberoi, who followed her sister Shikha and crashed out of the Legg Mason Women's Pro Circuit.

In her first round match, Lucky Loser Neha was handed a 4-6, 2-6 defeat by her Italian opponent Alberta Brianti. Earlier, the Uberoi siblings had made an early exit in women's doubles with a 5-7, 2-6 defeat at the hands of Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier and US-based Sunitha Rao.

In singles, Shikha was trailing 2-6, 0-2 in the second set when she threw in the towel in the first round match against Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn.

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