Sunday, Nov 10, 2002
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
A beaming Vinod Sridhar poses with the winner's trophy after claiming the singles title in the ITF Futures tennis tournament in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
Against a particularly erratic Ajay Ramaswami, who did not get into his rhythm much to the disappointment of a sparse gathering, it was Vinod's composure and calculated play that saw the National champion cruise home 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 14 minutes. The key to the contest was Vinod's ability to land his first serves consistently, and he did that 70 per cent of the time during the 58 points on his service games. He was brilliant in the second set, in which he had nearly 85 per cent success with his first serves. It was this ability to serve consistently well that saw Vinod save four breakpoints in the sixth game of the first set, when he had raced ahead, winning two breaks of serve in the third and fifth games. There was nothing spctacular about Vinod's game, but he was quite efficient with his deep-hit strokes and rarely made mistakes. In contrast, Ajay was able to hit quite a few winners, but made more than his quota of mistakes this day, that saw him fritter away whatever advantage he may have enjoyed by virtue of his strong game. Ajay compounded his problems in the fifth game, when he put a sitter of a shot long to face breakpoints. He saved one with an ace, but put another shot out to be down two breaks. He did save two set-points in the seventh game, but Vinod converted the fourth set-point in the next game. The second set also took a similar pattern as the first, as Ajay dropped serve in the third game on the second breakpoint by netting his backhand. By now, Vinod was so confident that he knew that one break of serve was sufficient. Vinod conceded a mere three points in his five service games in the second set, which went a long way in emphasising his confidence. Actually, he did not drop a point in his last three service games. Vinod had one ace and 12 winners, including three volleys and five passing shots, while Ajay had three aces and 16 winners including six volleys. What led to Ajay's meek surrender was his five double-faults, though two of those were following dubious calls, and 48 errors. In contrast, Vinod had one double-fault and 31 errors. It was a day when Vinod could hardly put a foot wrong, despite the fact that he had to constantly `ice' his painful right knee. "This title means a lot to me, and I am really very happy. Winning the national title a fortnight ago was one of the highpoints of my career, but this one coming in a field in which there were so many good players, makes me very confident to do well in the future'', said Vinod, who had won the National Games title in Imphal in 1999. The fact that he had lost in the first round last week in Chandigarh, mainly because of the painful knee, made Vinod that much more happy, to be successful in beating a string of good players including three tough foreigners, despite being physically hampered. ``The pain is not there so much now, as was the case last week. I am feeling strong, and looking forward to doing well in the next tournament in Davangere'', said Vinod. Actually, there was not much difference between the two players. It was Vinod's iron will that helped him make it a straightforward affair, while it was Ajay's impatience and inability to curtail his errors that tilted the balance decisively. ``He played very well, and didn't give me many second serves to look at in the second set. The court was a little slow as it had been washed in the morning, and I felt the balls were heavier. I knew what I had to do, but somehow could not get my shots. He came up with some good passing shots, and I couldn't come for my volleys that well'', said Ajay, who could not hide the disappointment of not capitalising on his fine run, that had seen him humble the champion of the Chandigarh event in the second round. It was the maiden final for both, and maybe only one was ready to handle the stage. The result (final): Viond Sridhar bt Ajay Ramaswami 6-2, 6-4.
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