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India lead Lebanon 2-0

Shailesh Soni

India took a 2-0 lead over Lebanon in the Asia-Oceania Zone Group-I Davis Cup tie being played at the Oudh Gymkhana courts in Lucknow on Friday.

In the first match of the day, India's top player Leander Paes defeated Ali Hamadeh 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(7-3), while in the second, Syed Fazaluddin beat Hicham Zaatin 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(7-3) to give India 2-0 lead on the first day of the competition.

Paes was quickly up a break after the first game of the match. The Indian went 4-1 up with another break in game 5. He was broken once in game 6, but held on for the set though Hamadeh took him to a couple of deuces in the final game!

In the second set, Hamadeh held serve till the 11th game, when Paes got the timely break to go up 6-5. The Indian then served for the second set at advantage.

In the third set, Paes got the first game break again to lead 2-0, but gave the break back in the 8th game and then faced set points at 4-5. He was down 15-40, but served an ace and won four points in a row to avoid trouble. In the tie-breaker, he broke Hamadeh to go up 1-0, but Hamadeh got the minibreak back for 1-1. Then it was 2-1, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 6-3, and 7-3.

Hamadeh played very well after some initial lose play to run the higher-ranked Indian close in the end though it must be said that Paes was always in control of the situation.

In the second match, Syed Fazaluddin started well, getting a break in the 7th game. He had two set points at 40-15 in the 10th game but Zaatini came back with some great returns to take him to deuce. But the Indian kept his cool and finished the set with a great smash at 6-4.

In the second set, Zaatini got an early break in the fourth game and with one more break in the sixth game went on to take the set at 6-3.

The third set saw both the players getting one break each and it was 5-5 in the 10th game. Fazal got the vital break in the 12th game and took the set at 7-5.

The fourth set saw Fazal getting the break in the 6th game to go up 4-2. However, he lost the serve in the 7th game and the match went into tie-breaker.

Fazal kept his cool in the tiebreaker and went on the win three points in a row to finish the tiebreaker at 7-3.

Tomorrow Paes and Fazaluddin play Hicam Zaatini and Ali Hamadeh in the doubles match. The reverse singles will played on Sunday, with Paes playing Zaatini and Fazaluddin facing Hamadeh. The ITF now allows the captains to change players for the reverse singles without giving any medical justification. Thus, if India win the doubles match tomorrow we could see a new face figuring in the reverse singles on Sunday.