The Hindu : Sherwood, Sekac in final clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 16, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sherwood, Sekac in final clash

By K. Keerthivasan

Jonathan Marray (left) and David Sherwood, who won the doubles title in the Rexona-Deo ITF men's Futures tennis championship in Chennai on Friday. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, MARCH 15. David Sherwood of England made it to his first ever ITF (singles) final with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory over India's lone hope Prahlad Srinath in the semifinals of the Rexona-Deo ITF men's Futures tennis championship at the centre court of the SDAT-Tennis Stadium here on Friday. The 21-year-old from Sheffield will cross swords with Branislav Sekac of Slovakia, who blunted the hard-hitting Czech Republic's Jakub Hasek 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Looking at ease with himself and moving pretty well, the lanky Srinath, ranked 615 in the ATP list, raced to a 4-3 lead in the seventh game with an elegant backhand passing shot. Continuing to pass at will an on-rushing Sherwood, Srinath broke him again in the ninth game to pocket the first set in around 20 minutes.

Slowly finding his rhythm, Sherwood's chip-and-charge tactics began to yield dividends. Running away to 5-1 lead with a break in the first, third, fifth games, Sherwood fought back to take the second and was keyed up for the decider.

Srinath did well from the baseline coming up with some fine passing shots, but one got the feeling that did not approach the net as much. Down 2-3 in the final set, Srinath was one point away from losing his serve. He, however, saved it with a clinical volley.

He was in danger again in the 12th game (5-6), being three match points down. He did his best to save two of them - a forehand winner, and a effective first serve. And when a forehand shot hit the tape on the third one, all Indian hopes evaporated. ``I had my chances but I did not capitalise on them. It happens. Some days you lose, some days you win,'' said the 28-year-old Srinath.

``He (Srinath) is not an attacking player like Uppal, played well from the baseline hitting some good passing shots. But I played the key points better,'' said Sherwood, whose best performance has been a semifinal loss in a Futures tourney in Eastbourne couple of years back.

Two foreigners _ Branislav Sekac (Slovakia) and Jakub Hasek of Czech Republic battled it out on an outside court in another semifinal encounter. Sekac, seeking his second ITF title, came up trumps, as he committed fewer unforced errors and volleyed more successfully than his opponent. ``We are working on his serve and volley game and want him to become an all-court player,'' said Sekac's coach Herbert Bende.

Serving effectively, and coming in when required, Sekac broke the Czech's serve in the third game to go up 3-1, thanks to a double fault from Hasek. Moving 5-4 up, Sekac was broken while serving for the first set.

Hasek held his serve in the next and took the match to the tiebreaker. Starting with a double fault, Hasek lost his cool as he went down 2-5. From then on Sekac never looked back. Throughout the first set, Sekac's first serves was effective and in the eventual analysis that did the trick. Leading 5-2 in the second set, Sekac lost his serve in the ninth game before breaking back the Czech's serve in the next to finish the match in an hour and 29 minutes.

The 22-year-old Slovak has won a ITF tourney in Slovenia two years back, and has reached another final two weeks back in Israel. DD Sports will cover the singles final live.

Sherwood-Marray pair wins

Later in the evening session, the Briton pair of Jonathan Marray and David Sherwood claimed their fourth title quelling a stiff challenge from the Indian pair of Vijay Kannan and Rohan Bopanna 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (10-8) in just under two hours. The Indian duo failed to convert six match points, three in the second set, and three in the third set tie-breaker. "We are happy," said Marray, ``but a singles win for Sherwood would be more enjoyable.''

The results: Singles (semifinals): David Sherwood (GBR) bt Prahlad Srinath (Ind) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5; Branislav Sekac (Svk) bt Jakub Hasek (Cze) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

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