Paes-Damm lose in semis

Washington DC, Aug 5 (UNI) Second seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm made an exit, going down 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 10-2 a lower ranked, all Israeli pair of Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich in the semi-final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic here.

In a keenly-fought contest, the Indo-Czech pair squandered a set advantage as the Israelis rallied marvelously well to win on match tiebreaker and set a summit clash with top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States, who tamed Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in th other semi-final.

Ram and Erlich took an early lead in the semis (4-1), but Paes and Damm broke back in the ninth game and won the first set on a tiebreak.

After splitting the first 12 games of the second set and the first six points of the tiebreak, the Israelis opened a slender lead by winning the next two points and went on to take the set and tie the match.

Ram and Erlich were unstoppable in the match tiebreaker, winning the first eight points and quickly booking their place in the title match.

UNI