The senior pro and top seed in the $ 25,000 Servo Indian Oil Challenger, Leander Paes, had to go through the grind to join his partner in the quarter-finals. From cruise mode to turbulence, the top Indian star went through wild swings in form against Czech Ota Fukarek. Two good points in the second set tie-breaker by the Czech made the match look rather close, but in the end, it was Paes' contribution to the second set loss which seemed much larger than the Czech's.

Sheer experience helped Paes pull through 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1 and for somebody who is defending too many singles points in the weeks to come, there aren't many positive lessons to learn from this over two-hour match.

Paes had problems with serve, had an error-prone forehand and luckily forhim, Fukarek was a confused man himself. In the first set, Paes was up 5-1 and ready to trample over the thinly-built Czech. He dropped serve while serving for the set and took it the second time around, but it was the second set which brought out the indifference in the 108-ranked Indian's play. He broke early but double faulted in the fourth to squander advantage.

He hit rock bottom in the eighth where he struggled to get over five break points and suddenly, Fukarek showed all signs of coming alive. Paes held on to the eighth but the domination was beginning to wither. When he dumped a shoe-lace return to the bottom of the net, when down two set points in the second, chaos was all set to take over.

Results (round of 16)

Singles: Leander Paes (Ind) bt Ota Fukarek (Cze) 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1; Jeff Coetzee (RSA) bt Giorgio Galimberti (Ita) 6-3, 6-3; Gregory Carraz (Fra) w/o Mathew Breen (Aus); Oleg Ogorodov (Uzb) bt Gilles Elseneer (Bel) 7-6 (2), 6-4; Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) bt Eyal Ran (Isr) 6-0,1-6, 6-3; Gaston Etlis (Arg) bt Jonathan Stark (USA) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2; Mahesh Bhupathi w/o Andy Fahlke (Ger); Vladimir Voltchkov (Blr) bt Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) 6-4, 6-3.

Quarter-final line-up: Paes vs Coetzee; Carraz vs Ogorodov; Vinciguerra vs Etlis; Bhupathi vs Voltchkov.

Doubles (first round): Neville Godwin (RSA)/Andre Sa (Bra) bt Gregory Carraz (Fra)/Gaston Etlis (Arg) 6-3, 6-4; Barry Cowan (Bri)/Wesley Whiterhouse (RSA) bt bt Mustafa Ghouse/Vishal Uppal (Ind) 6-4, 6-3;

Quarterfinals: Lorenzo Manta (Sui)/Vladimir Votchkov (Blr) bt Lior Mor (Isr)/Andreas Zingman (Arg) 7-5, 6-2; Tuomas Ketola (Fin)/Petr Pala (Cze) bt Ota Fukarek (Cze)/Marcus Hilpert (Ger) 6-4, 6-3; Noam Behr/Eyal Ran (Isr) w/o Mathew Breen/Joseph Sirianni (Aus).