Exit for Paradorn
Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan squandered double set points before making his sixth straight early round exit when he crashed out in the first round of the Masters Series in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday.
Arriving in the German city after five consecutive defeats dating back to the Masters Series in Miami in March, Paradorn, ranked No 35 in the world, appeared to have the opening set in hand when he was serving for the first set against Belgium Christophe Rochus at 5-4 and 40-15. But his clay court jinx again had the better of him as he dropped that game and never recovered. The Thai lost the match to the 69th-ranked twin brother of Oliver 7-5 6-1. Since first taking part in the tournament in 2003, Paradorn has never moved beyond the opening round in Hamburg. In fact, he has yet to win a match on the slow clay surface this season. The two players are now tied at 2-2 in their life-time record. The last time the Belgian beat the Thai was also on clay in Austria in 2005. Yesterday's loss marked a new losing streak record for Paradorn with six successive early round exits. His previous worst was five straight first round defeats last year.
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