The Hindu : Sport : Srichaphan bows out

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Srichaphan bows out

Marat Safin sails past Nicolas Mahut

— Photo: AFP

TEARFUL EXIT: Paradorn Srichaphan grimaces in pain after pulling out of his match against Juan Ignacio Chela.

PARIS: Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan's season ended prematurely after he retired midway through his first round clash with Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela here on Tuesday.

Srichaphan was trailing 6-3, 3-0 when he decided to call it quits from his last tournament of the year, clearly suffering from some kind of ailment.

He was far from his best and was broken early in the first set, after which he called for the trainer, grimacing and obviously in discomfort.

He soldiered on but was broken again and lost the first set. Srichaphan was broken a third time in his first service game of the second set.

Impressive record

On Monday, three-time champion Marat Safin improved his impressive record at the Paris Masters to 22-2 with a 6-1, 7-6(5) first round win over Nicolas Mahut of France.

Safin, winner in 2000, 2002 and 2004, has failed to make the final only once in five previous visits.

He fired 17 aces past wild card Mahut, and completed the victory off a backhand pass which left the Frenchman grounded after he dived to reach the ball.

The tournament marks Safin's last chance to win a title this year. Struggling after a knee surgery, the Russian fell out of the top-100 before the U.S. Open but was back in the top-50 after reaching this month's final in Moscow, his first in almost 18 months. He hasn't won a title since the 2005 Australian Open.

Nicolas Almagro of Spain needed three tie-breakers and three hours to beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 7-6(2).

The results:

At Paris (ATP BNP Paribas Paris Masters): First round: Juan Ignacio Chela bt Paradorn Srichaphan 6-3, 3-0, retd.; Nicolas Almagro bt Jonas Bjorkman 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 7-6(2); Olivier Rochus bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-5; Daniele Bracciali bt Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-4; Michael Llodra bt Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-6(4); Robby Ginepri bt Max Mirnyi 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Kristof Vliegen bt Florent Serra 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4); Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4; Christophe Rochus bt Jose Acasuso 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Marat Safin bt Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 7-6(5).

At Quebec City (WTA Bell Challenge): First round: Laura Granville bt Jelena Kostanic 6-4, 6-4; Olga Poutchkova bt Valerie Tetreault 6-0, 6-2; Martina Sucha bt Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-2; Shenay Perry bt Melinda Czink 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Aleksandra Wozniak bt Alina Jidkova 6-4, 6-2.

At Hasselt (Belgium) (WTA Gaz de France Stars): First round: Karolina Sprem bt Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-2; Vera Zvonareva bt Vera Dushevina 7-6(3), 6-1. — Agencies

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