Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002
Tuesday, Aug 20, 2002 |
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
South Africa's Ciaran Moore essays a forehand return in his match against India's Shivang Mishra in the ITF Futures tennis tournament in New Delhi on Monday. — Photo: R.V.Moorthy.
His inconsistent form, low confidence, coupled with his recent ankle injury, made Harsh struggle while the heat and humidity added to his woes. Harsh was uncharacteristically erratic, and with Jaco Mathew passing him well, there was a match on the cards. It could have been a big day for the Chennai lad, but for him missing two gamepoints in the tenth game of the second set. Once he got into the decider, Harsh had the command, though he was low on energy. It was his experience that proved decisive, as he recovered from being 1-3 down in the third set to pull through. "I didn't have a chance playing him from the backcourt. That was how I was trying to rush to the net. He played well'', said Harsh, who would be running into Mustafa Ghouse in the next round. "Both of us have not done that well recently, so we are likely to come good soon. It was my serve that helped me today. I hope that I would improve with the matches'', said Harsh, who served three aces and 11 doublefaults. Jaco acquitted himself very well and played well within his limitations. Had he been a little more consistent and stuck strongly to the basics, he would have hit the headlines for sure. He, however, had the consolation of winding up the day with a doubles triumph in three sets, late in the evening in partnership with another talented junior, Rohan Gajjar, against Rishi Sridhar and Kamala Kannan. The second-seeded Mustafa started on a shaky note against qualifier Divij Sharan, but tightened his game to win in straight sets. Mustafa had six aces and nine doublefaults, and had seven of those doublefaults in two games. He may have to be sharp to get the better of the smart play of Harsh, who has the ability to raise his level according to the opponent. Qualifier Amanjot Singh went down in a third set tie-break after having matchpoints in a long drawn encounter against Stephen Nugent of Ireland. The Chandigarh lad was up 5-2 in the tie-break of the decider before losing ground, in a contest that spanned three hours and 24 minutes. Nugent won 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (11-9), after facing matchpoints at 7-8 and 8-9 in the tie-break. In another equally engrossing encounter, Delhi lad Shivang Mishra saved two match points, much to the jubilation of fellow trainees and coaches at the DLTA, but lacked the technical efficiency to match his intensity of play against Ciaran Moore of South Africa. In a match played in the evening when the heat had settled down, Shivang tried to mix up smart play backhand slices to strong serves, but the ploy just about failed in the climax. The top-seeded Rohan Bopanna was on song against Sanchai Ratiwatana of Thailand. The 22-year-old from Coorg served the thunderbolts and returned with a touch of class to overwhelm the Thai. Bopanna had nine aces and four doublefaults in the contest that spanned just over an hour. The best Indian player on the ATP computer at the moment, did look in a different league to the rest of the pack. Sunil Kumar was in good form as he authored a straight set victory over Vinod Sridhar in a battle of left-handers. The Chandigarh lad, rich in confidence, served 10 aces and four doublefaults. More than his serving ability, he impressed with the quality of his strokes that showed a marked improvement from the time he had won the Asian junior title last year. The results: Singles (first round): Rohan Bopanna bt Sachai Ratiwatana 6-0, 6-4; Vijay Kannan bt Ashutosh Singh 6-4, 6-3; Stephen Nugent (Irl) bt Amanjot Singh 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (11-9); Rishi Sridhar bt Ajay Ramaswami 3-6, 6-1, 2-1 (retired); Sunil Kumar bt Vinod Sridhar 6-4, 6-2; Ciaran Moore (RSA) bt Shivang Mishra 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Bhee Witoonpanich (Tha) bt Saurav Panja 2-6, 6-2, 6-1; Sonchat Ratiwatana bt Punna Vishal 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Harsh Mankad bt Jaco T. Mathew 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Mustafa Ghouse bt Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-3. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rohan Gajjar and Jaco T. Mathew bt Kamala Kannan and Rishi Sridhar 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana bt Dipesh Rao and Amanjot Singh 6-4, 6-3. Qualifying event (final round): Iram Peled and Dori Sadovnik (Isr) bt Su Hyun Ham and Jung Young Kim (Kor) 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); First round: Iram Peled and Dori Sadovnik bt Nipun Gupta and Kedar Tembe 6-3, 6-4; Su Hyun Ham and Jun Young Kim bt Parthasarathi Bhattacharya and Tushar Garg 7-5, 6-2.
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