Sunday, Sep 08, 2002
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Tennis
By K. Keerthivasan
PROUD POSSESSION: Rohan Bopanna of India, who won the singles title in the ITF Futures men's Championship in Chennai on Saturday, poses with the citations. Bopanna also won the doubles crown on Friday, pairing with Vijay Kannan. — Photo: V. Ganesan
This is Bopanna's second Futures title in four finals. He won earlier at New Delhi in March this year. It was also a sweet and an exacting double for Bopanna, as only the previous night, he paired up with Vijay Kannan to lift the doubles title. In a battle between the two Davis Cuppers, who will soon be taking on Australia in its home soil, neither was willing to gift an easy point and appeared sharp from the first game. Though there were times that they found difficult to hold their serves. Like in the sixth game Harsh had to fend off three break points. Bopanna too was in a spot of bother in the eleventh game, down 30-40. But weapons are there for one to use. And use he did, when he came up with an ace and two big first serves to take the game. Predictably, the first set which saw no breaks of serves, reached the tiebreaker stage. Coming up with some fine forehand winners, and volleying superbly, Harsh levelled 4-4, after being down 2-4. Bopanna enhanced the lead with one of those aces (he served 2 in the tiebreaker), and a volley winner off a weak attempted lob from Harsh gave Bopanna the first set. Playing well to hold his serve till then, Bopanna committed hara- kiri in the tenth game of the second set. Down 4-5, Bopanna made a series of unforced errors and faced 3 set points. Having saved one, he could not save the second when his forehand went out. The decider too went neck and neck till the eighth game. In the ninth game on Harsh's serve, Bopanna produce some stunning shots to break serve. A backhand passing shot on the run, a deep ball which Harsh hit out and finally a backhand cross court return which Harsh netted. Bopanna gave signs of nerves again when he was serving for the match in the tenth game. Harsh was one point away from equalising the scores (5-5), when Bopanna used his serve to close out the two hour 30 minute clash on his second match point (after saving game points) when Harsh hit a return out. ``My parents did not want me to take part in the tourney as I was recovering from dehydration in the Gulbarga leg. But I wanted to collect some ATP points. I am happy with my performance here and am looking forward to the Davis Cup,'' said Bopanna, who is being supported by All India Tennis Association. For Harsh Mankad, keen on collecting some ATP points, and after two unsuccessful earlier legs, the final leg saw him play some of his best fighting tennis. Today, against an inspired and a big serving Bopanna, Harsh despite the fightback, stood little chance. ``I had a pretty good summer. I did have my ups and downs, losing some close matches. I just have to evaluate them.'' reflected Harsh. Bopanna collected 12 ATP points and a winner's cheque of Rs. $1,300 (Rs. 62,000) while Harsh gained 8 ATP points and $900 (Rs. 43,000). Mr. Mahesh Kanchan, Area Sales Manager, Hindustan Lever Ltd., gave away the prizes. The result (singles final): 1-Rohan Bopanna bt Harsh Mankad 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4.
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