Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002
Wednesday, Aug 21, 2002 |
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Israel's Moti Maaravi whips a return in his encounter against Nitin Kirtane in the ITF Futures tennis tournament in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: R.V. Moorthy
The strong-built 20-year-old had played in about a dozen tournaments around the world, in France and Portugal this year, in search of that elusive first ATP point. He was exhausting his energy in the qualifying events itself, before striking it good here. With only the second-round entrant getting an ATP point at the $10,000 level, it has been a tough exercise for Maaravi. It was no wonder that his teammates encouraged him with constant shouts of appreciation as the Israeli battled the crafty Nitin in a contest that spanned two hours and 20 minutes. Maaravi tried to imitate the 28-year-old Nitin's smart game initially, and found that it did not suit him, as he slipped from being 4-2 up in the first set to losing it eventually in the tie-break. He served well and stroked with confidence in the second and third sets, to exasperate Nitin, who lacked the energy in the climax. The Israeli served nine aces and wound up the match with two of them, when Nitin was hardly able to walk, after having sought medical attention twice during the contest. In contrast, Nitin had five aces and nine double faults. Kamala Kannan was put up a brave fight thanks to his big serves and sharp strokes against the seventh-seeded Eliran Dooyev of Israel, but lacked the wherewithal to make a match of it. His challenge came down after he lost the first set in the tie-break. The 20-year-old Chennai lad has been playing well but needs to put his game together with better intensity to make the breakthrough. But then, that is the case with most of the players. Rohan Gajjar demonstrated a quality game as he tamed wild card entrant Parthasarathi Bhattacharya in straight sets. The 18-year-old from Mumbai can make it a lively affair if he plays his best against the top-seeded Rohan Bopanna on Wednesday. The gangling Gajjar, with rich experience at the junior level in international tournaments, had made two ATP points from his first outing in the men's league in the Satellite circuit some time back. He has added one more point already to his kitty, and should be able to match the firebrand game of Bopanna. Gajjar knows that he has nothing to lose, and would do well to play the match with self-belief than be overawed by the reputation of his opponent. The results (Indians unless specified): Singles (first round): Rohan Gajjar bt Parthasarathi Bhatacharya 6-1, 6-3; Roy Sichel (Isr) bt Yoav Benzvi (Isr) 6-3, 6-2; Eliran Dooyev (Isr) bt Kamala Kannan 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Ishay Hadash (Isr) bt Assaf Drori (Isr) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Attapol Rithiwattanapong (Tha) bt Dekel Valtzer (Isr) 6-3, 6-1; Moti Maaravi (Isr) bt Nitin Kirtane 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-2. Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Rohan Bopanna & Vijay Kannan bt Ajay Chowdapalli & Shivang Mishra 6-4, 6-4; Nitin Kirtane & Saurav Panja bt Harsh Mankad & Ajay Ramaswamy 6-3, 6-4; Mustafa Ghouse & Sunil Kumar bt Iram Peled & Dori Sadovnik (Isr) 6-3, 7-6 (9-7); Roy Sichel & Dekel Valtzer (Isr) bt Ashutosh Singh & Gurmehar Singh 6-4, 7-6 (7-2); Eliran Dooyev & Assaf Drori (Isr) bt Punna Vishal & Vinod Sridhar 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Sean Cooper & Stephen Nugent (Irl) bt Parantap Chaturvedi & Divij Sharan 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
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