Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Tuesday, May 14, 2002 |
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Tennis
By Joseph Antony
In the opening set, few would have doubted Sichel's superiority, as he claimed it 6-4 without much ado. The second set saw a turn-around. Furukawa's wayward returns became more accurate and his unforced errors steadily diminished. Furukawa made it known that he was not going to take things lying down, as he executed a top class down the line return to draw level in the second set, prompting Sichel to hurl his racquet in frustration. Down 0-4 in the tie-breaker, the hatless Furukawa, braving the searing heat in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, clawed his way back, but didn't quite get there as Sichel remained up 6-5. The Israeli's double fault could not have come at a worse time as he let his rival draw level. Sichel's cup of misery was complete when he slammed the ball into the net, thus conceding the set. Sichel returned to the third set with new resolve, breaking Furukawa in the very first game. The latter avenged that in good measure, breaking back in the fourth and the sixth. That Furukawa was peaking became evident through a delicately chiselled drop that found Sichel hopelessly out of place. Furukawa's on the line return wrapped up the seventh game, a point hotly disputed by Sichel. In the next game, on the third break and match point, Furukawa made no mistake. On court two, Manoj Mahadevan's immensely better return of serve saw him subdue Ciaran Moore 6-1, 6-4, without working up too much of a sweat. So much so that Moore could hold on to just one game on serve in the first set. Games went with serve in the decider, till Manoj broke Moore in the seventh. The National grasscourt champ's aces came by the handful, some of which Moore did not even attempt to reach. Towards the end, the South African seemed resigned to his fate of a loser, even as Manoj rarely charged up to the net. He probably didn't find the need to do so, considering the contest was a cakewalk. Earlier, the meet was inaugurated by the State Minister for Revenue, Ashok Gajapati Raju in the presence of L.V. Subrahmanyam, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh and Sunil Sharma, Collector and District Magistrate, Visakhapatnam. The results (Indians unless specified): Singles: Rafael Moreno Negrin (Spain) bt Anant Sitaram 6-3, 6-2; Manoj Mahadevan bt Ciaran Moore (South Africa) 6-1, 6-4; Vishal Punna bt Shivang Mishra 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Jaco T. Mathew bt Mohd. Yasser Arafat 6-7 (7-3), 6-0; 6-3, Hayato Furukawa (Jap) bt Roy Sichel (Isr) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2; Naoki Arimoto (Jap) bt Arun P. Rajagopalan 5-7 (7-4), 6-4, 6-0; Vinod Sridhar bt V.M. Ranjeet 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Doubles: (Qualifying round): Dooyev/Suissa (Isr) bt Steven Diaz/Rowe (Aus) 6-2, 6-2; Mustafa Ghouse/Vijay Kannan bt Giunior Ghedina/Sebastian Niedermayer (Ger) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 7-5; Nitin Kirtane/Vishal Uppal bt Vishal Punna/Anjan Viplav 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 7-5; Rohan Gajjar/Sandeep Kirtane bt Ivan Syrov/Amod Wakalkar 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2; Kamala Kannan/Rishi Sridhar bt Manoj Mahadevan/Anant Sitaram 6-4, 6-7 (9-7), 6-4; Som Dev Varman/Jaco T. Mathew bt P. Ravikrishna/Mohd. Yasser Arafat 6-3, 6-4; Stephen Donovan/Rafael Moreno Negrin bt Roy Sichel/Elad Stern (Isr) 6-4, 6-3.
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