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Paes loses singles match

India survived a scare before beating China 2-1 to enter the semi-finals of the Asia Cup Tennis tournament in Delhi today.

Led by Leander Paes, India came through after facing some anxious moments.

After Prahlad Srinath beat Xu Ran 6-2, 6-2, India No. 1 Paes lost to Zhu Ben Quiang 6-4, 2-6, 2-6.

Finally, the doubles was clinched by the Indians as Syed Fazaluddin and Paes beat the Chinese pair of Xu Ran and Jiang Zhan 6-3, 6-3.

India, who are the second seeds, now meet Japan in the semi-finals tomorrow. Japan had yesterday beaten India 'A' 2-0 in their opening encounter.

The other semi-final will be between top seeds Uzbekistan and Thailand. Thailand had yesterday beaten Korea 2-0 while the Uzbeks reached the last four stage via a bye in the absence of an eighth team.

Meanwhile, the India 'A' team continued its dismal performance in the tournament, losing its second match in the play-off for minor placings.

The India 'A' team, which consists of a fresh crop of upcoming players, lost to Korea 0-2.

In the morning match, promising Sunil Kumar, the national hardcourt champion, went down fighting to Kim Dong Hyun of Korea 6-3, 4-6, 0-6. After taking the first set, Sunil lost his touch and lost the next two.

In the other match, Vijay Kannan also lost a closely-contested tie to Baek Seung Bok 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (7-5), 1-6.

Both India 'A' and Korea are out of championship contention. Yesterday, they lost their opening ties to Japan and Thailand respectively.

UNI