Paes-Damm edges Varman-Isner to enter pre-QFs

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Washington DC, Aug 1: Second seeds Leander Paes and Martin Damm resisted a spirited fightback from Somdev Varman and John Isner, elbowing out the wild carded Indo-US pair in match tie breaker to enter the doubles pre-quarterfinals at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic here.

The Indo-Czech combine survived some anxious moments in their opening round match before prevailing over their unfancied rivals 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.

Paes and Damm looked all set to steamroll their opponents when they pocketed the first set in no time. But Varman-Isner bounced back equally hard to take the second set 6-3 and force a tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, the seeded duo held their serves and nerves for a hard-earned victory.

They now take on the Croat-South African duo of Ivo Karlovic and Chris Haggard, who downed an all Brazilian pair of Melo Marcelc and SA Andre 6-1, 7-6 (6), 12-10.

Meanwhile in the singles, qualifier Varman crashed out after losing to American Paul Goldstein 4-6, 2-6 in a first round match.

UNI