Monday December 30, 11:30 PM
Injury forces Shalken,Golmard out of Indian Open
By Kunal Pradhan
MADRAS, India (Reuters) - Third-seeded Dutchman Sjeng Schalken has made
an unhappy start to the 2003 season when he pulled out of the Indian Open
with a wrist injury.
The 26-year-old, ranked 20th in the world, was a semi-finalist at the U.S.
Open and was coming off the best year of his career. He has been replaced
by lucky loser Noam Okum of Israel, who had lost in the final qualifying
round.
Schalken was joined on the sidelines by Frenchman Jerome Golmard who pulled
out early in his first round match against Spaniard Albert Portas due to a
recurring back problem.
Golmard, who had won the tournament three years ago, finished outside the
top 50 for the first time in four years last season due to an elbow injury.
Fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina was made to work hard in front
of a partisan home crowd by India's Leander Paes.
Paes, a former doubles world number one and singles semifinalist here in
1998, raced to a 3-0 lead in the second set but Chela won a flurry of games
for a 7-6 7-5 win.
"I knew it's going to be tough playing against Leander here in his home
country," Chela said.
Sixth seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany had no trouble getting past
occasional practice partner Julian Knowle of Austria 6-4 6-1 in the first
match on centre court at the floodlit Nungambakkam Stadium.
Schuettler, who took to tennis after watching Boris Becker win the 1985
Wimbledon title, relied on his big baseline passing shots against his
opponent's faltering serve-and-volley game.
Czech Jiri Vanek beat wildcard Prakash Amritraj, son of India's former
top 20 player Vijay, 6-2 6-2 and Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard survived a
late recovery by Denmark's Kristian Pless to win 6-2 7-5.
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