Paes-Daniell in Hall of Fame Open semis

Newport, July 20 

Leander Paes reached the semifinals of the ATP Hall of Fame Open with partner Marcus Daniell, edging out Matthew Ebden and Robert Lindstedt. The third seeded Indo-Kiwi combination prevailed over (6-4 5-7 14-12) the Australian-Swede team in the quarterfinals after saving three match points.Next up for Paes and Daniell are Marcel Granollers and Sergiy Stakhovsky. 

“These are the nights that I live for. The hard work, playing when you have fever, being in the gym when you don’t really want to be there. Most people see us travelling to lovely places and being on show courts, but the hard yards are what allow me to still compete at this level,” said Paes. It is the fourth time this season that Paes has reached the semifinals on the ATP World Tour, reaching the same stage at Lyon (May), Marrakech (April) and Montpellier (February) in the first half of the season. With 766 Tour wins, Paes is sixth on the all-time doubles match winners’ list. He is just one of six players to pick up 750 Tour-level doubles match wins, which he achieved in April 2018. — PTI