Pat Cash failed to regain his magic touch as he and partner Karan Rastogi went down tamely to the second seeded German pair of Rainer Schuettler and Alexander Waske in the first round of the doubles competition at the Chennai Open on Wednesday.
The much talked about Indo-Australian pair proved no match for the marauding Schuettler-Waske combination and lost 2-6, 2-6 in less than an hour.
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Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, was making a comeback of sorts on the tour, and that his partnership with India's up-and-coming Rastogi was forged at the last minute showed on court.
"I was rusty and he was inexperienced," was how Cash described the performance in a nutshell.
With two players who travel on the tour regularly, the distance was too much for Cash and Rastogi to cover. Though Cash and Rastogi had their moments of glory at the net, the German pair took over with their pace and experience as a team.
"It's very difficult coming into the game with guys that hit the ball so hard," said Cash. "They served so hard sometimes he could hardly even reach the ball. It was a lot of fun playing again; I enjoyed myself but was a little disappointed that we didn't take our chances."
Cash, who played in Chennai in 1997, still got a roaring response from the crowd and it looked like a mini-riot would break out when he started throwing his signature chequered bandanas into the stands.
Another crowd favourite, Spain's Moya lived up to the support to score a fighting win over Gimelstob.
The big American needed only 30 minutes to take the first set after the players had traded breaks in the first two games of the match.
There was not much to choose between them in the next two sets, but Moya kept his cool on the important points. It was the Spaniard's improved serve though that seemed to have made the difference for him.
In the other matches, Germany's Tomas Behrend was the first seed to be knocked out of the tournament when he lost 4-6, 1-6 to Thierry Ascione of France.
Germany's Bjorn Phau also advanced to the third round, beating qualifier Michael Berrer 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Thursday may prove a big day for India's Rohan Bopanna, who will play almost back-to-back matches in singles and doubles. Bopanna will play his first game on centre court, where he will take on Luxemborg's Gilles Muller in the second round. He will then team up with Prakash Amritraj for the doubles against Yves Allegro and Michael Kohlmann.
Leander Paes and Martin Damm also play their second round doubles match on Thursday.
Day three results: R Stepanek (Cze) bt P Amritraj 3-6, 6-0, 6-4; C Moya (ESP) bt J Gimelstob (USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; B Phau (Ger) bt M Berrer (Ger) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4; T Ascione (Fra) bt T Behrend (Ger) 6-4, 6-1; J Vanek (Cze)/Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (Tpe) bt M Frystenberg (Pol)/M Matkowski (Pol) 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-6; H Lee (Kor)/B Phau (Ger) bt D Norman (Bel)/K Vliegen (Bel) 6-4, 2-6, 10-8.
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