The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Bopanna too good for Mitchell

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Friday, Jun 03, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Bopanna too good for Mitchell

Kamesh Srinivasan

GURGAON: Rohan Bopanna showed that he belongs to a different league as he outplayed Stephen Mitchell of South Africa 6-1, 6-4 to make the semifinals of the ITF Satellite tennis tournament at the NTA Complex here on Thursday.

On a warm day when the troublesome wind looked to have taken a breather, the 25-year-old Bopanna struck a superb rhythm not only in his serve and volley but was also quite fluent with his whipping groundstrokes. In contrast, the sixth-seeded Mitchell who got off the blocks hesitantly, getting broken in the second game, had nothing much to show except for a big serve.

"The fact that he didn't pass me even once showed how well I handled my game. I thought he would fight, but am happy with the way I am playing. The conditions matter a lot and when there is a heavy wind tennis is so much different from one side to the other,'' said Bopanna.

Bopanna served nine aces, while the South African had five aces and six doublefaults. Bopanna had only one doublefault and he hardly gave a chance for his opponent in his service games.

Bopanna will be challenged by the 1098th ranked Salifu Mohammed of Ghana in the semifinals.

Easy for Gurmehar

The day belonged to Gurmehar Singh. The 23-year-old made his maiden semifinal, beating the seventh-seeded Richard Irwin 6-4, 6-1.

Gurmehar literally drove his Tata Safari on to the court, as he reached five minutes late for his match, having driven for 60 kilometres from home in peak traffic. Understandably, he started on the wrong note as he lost serve in the first game, but the strapping lad unleashed his power-packed game and demonstrated a mature approach in exasperating the Briton over the next hour and a half.

"I am playing to my strong points. I am ready to run all day despite having played for nearly three and a half hour on Wednesday. I had to be patient and once I found my rhythm I was confident. Am ready for the semifinal, and hope to play my best game,'' said Gurmehar who has recently joined Indian Airlines.

In the semifinals, the 6' 2'' tall Gurmehar will be up against an equally tall and energetic young Prima Simpatiaji. The Indonesian played a solid game, defeating Pathanjali Ravishankar for the loss of three games.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna bt Stephen Mitchell (RSA) 6-1, 6-4; Salifu Mohammed (Gha) bt Vijay Sundar Prashant 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Gurmehar Singh bt Richard Irwin (GBR) 6-4, 6-1; Prima Simpatiaji (Ina) bt Pathanjali Ravishankar 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (semifinals): Bopanna/Vijay Kannan bt Nitin Kirtane/Vishaal Uppal 5-7, 6-2, 7-5; Jaco Mathew/Ashutosh Singh bt Salifu Mohammed (Gha)/Guillaume Tarralle (Fra) 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

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