Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek made a stupendous start to their campaign at the year-end ATP World Tour finals as they shocked second seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in a closely-fought Group B match here on Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Paes and Stepanek pair beat the Austria-Brazilain combination 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 in one hour and 42 minutes.
Before prevailing in the super tie-breaker, Paes and Stepanek overcame some anxious moments towards the end as their rivals fought hard.
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Paes and Stepanek serevd throughout well but it was in the 12th game of the second set, when the Indian dropped his serve from 40-15 to make it a more thrilling contest, stretched to a Super Tie-breaker.
Paes and Stepanek had four match points but Peya and Soares saved three of the them.
Also on Tuesday, Rafael Nadal moved within a win away from finishing the year as the World No. 1 after starting his campaign with a 6-3, 6-2 win over David Ferrer.
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Nadal broke Ferrer in the opening game of the match, but the latter hit back with an immediate break of his own.
That was the last time the 31-year-old troubled Nadal, who was gifted another break for a 4-2 lead, thanks to a pair of careless forehands from the out-of-sorts Ferrer, who made 33 unforced errors.
On Monday, Swiss Wawrinka, making his debut at the Tour Finals, scored a 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-3 win over Czech Tomas Berdych in Group A.
The results:
Singles: Group A: Rafael Nadal bt David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2; Stanislas Wawrinka bt Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-7(0), 6-3.
Group B: Juan Martin del Potro bt Richard Gasquet 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5.
Doubles: Group A: Mariusz Fyrstenberg & Marcin Matkowski bt Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi & Jean-Julien Rojer 6-3, 7-6(8).
Group B: Leander Paes & Radek Stepanek bt Alexander Peya & Bruno Soares 6-3, 5-7, 10-8; David Marrero & Fernando Verdasco bt Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez 6-1, 6-4.