Leander is in summit clash at St Petersburg

St Petersburg (Russia), Sept. 24: India’s Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann made it to the finals of the St Petersburg Open by recording a straight-set victory over the Russian pair of Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles event.

The Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted around one-and-a-half hour.

Paes and Begemann won the first set in a canter in just 35 minutes. However, the Russian pair came from a break back 0-2 down in the second set as they raced to a 5-2 lead.

However, the veteran Indian and his German partner then won five consecutive games to wrap up the set 7-5.

Paes had last won an ATP mens doubles title, along with South Africa’s Raven Klaasen, in the 2015 New Zealand Open.

He had paired up with Rohan Bopanna to represent India at the Rio Olympic Games last month but their partnership was not successful. — PTI