Fazaluddin bows out fighting

Third seeded Syed Fazaluddin of India bowed out of the Dubai tennis championships, losing to fourth seeded Tomas Behrend of Germany in three tough sets.

In a match lasting nearly three hours, on Sunday, the German won 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 to make it to the main draw of the men's section.

Fazaluddin had raised hopes of a win when he took the first set 7-5, but went down in the second 4-6.

He made a valiant effort to come back in the third and the pressure caused the German to double fault, which enabled Fazaluddin to level at 6-6.

In the tie breaker Behrend led 6-1 but the Indian stood his ground to reduce the deficit to 5-6 as the see-saw tussle went on. But Behrend showed his class in the hour of crisis and bagged the next two points and the match.

On Saturday, Fazaluddin had beaten Spain's Oscar Burrieza 6-3, 6-4.