Paes-Damm crash out of Madrid Masters with first round defeat

Madrid, Oct 17 (UNI) Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm made an early exit from the Madrid Masters after the unheralded Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrsttenberg and Marcin Matkowski fought tooth and nail to get the better of the season campaigners.

In a marathon battle with fortune fluctuating with every game, the Polish pair ended up on the right side with a hard-earned 6-7(3), 6-2, 12-10 win.

The first set gave enough hints that the Polish pair was not overawed by the aura of their opponents -- Paes and Damm had won the US Open this year -- and put up a gritty show before conceding the set in tie-breaker.

The second set was rather a tame affair with the Polish duo dishing out an aggressive play and they dropped just two games on their way to win the set and draw parity.

The decider was an edge-of-the-seat thriller with both the pairs exchanging lead and breaks but in the end, it was the Fyrsttenberg-Matkowski duo who walked away with the match in the Euro 2,082,500 tournament.

Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi teams up with American James Blake and they face the Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the first round.

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