Thursday, Nov 07, 2002
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Ajay Ramaswami essays a forehand return against Russia's Pavel Ivanov in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Tennis tournament in New Delhi on Wednesday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena
The unseeded Ajay Ramaswami bounced back from a sedate start to score a thrilling 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the champion of the Chandigarh event, Pavel Ivanov of Russia. Equally impressive was the manner in which qualifier Jaco T. Mathew blew away the challenge from Yew Ming Si of Malaysia 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). The 18-year-old BAT trainee showed a lot of guts to power his way from the backcourt against the big-serving Malaysian, who had put out top-seeded Mustafa Ghouse in the first round. Rishi Sridhar, returning to the professional circuit in recent weeks after recovering from a wrist injury, showed a lot of confidence in his game in beating the challenge from seventh-seeded Jan Masik of the Czech Republic in straight sets. Capping the good run of the Indians was the national hardcourt champion Vinod Sridhar, as he dismissed the challenge from sixth-seeded Boris Borgula of Slovakia, for the loss of a mere three games. The national grasscourt champion Manoj Mahadevan did not break into a sweat, on a particularly pleasant day, as he treated the challenge from qualifier Joseph Huber of Austria with disdain, to cruise home 6-2, 6-3. Wild card entrant Kamala Kannan went down fighting, against the second seed Juraj Hasko of Slovakia, in the third set, when he was broken in the tenth game. Kamala Kannan showed tremendous ability to hang in out there, as he tilted the match around by winning the second set in the tie-break. It was another matter that the Slovak was too solid and was far too intense to be stopped. Setting aside Kamala Kannan's inability, it was a day when the Indian players could feel proud about their professionalism. They also served a notice to the second string, which could not deliver the goods in the first round, and caused a panic situation. The National Games champion Ajay Ramaswami recovered from a slow start when he dropped serve from being 40-0 in the first game, to swing the contest around, against the strapping young man from Siberia, Pavel Ivanov. It looked to be a bout of nerves when Ajay dropped serve in the eighth game after enjoying a 4-2 lead in the decider. He also failed to serve out the match in the 12th game after breaking the Russian in the 11th game. However, Ajay played the tie-break like a champion, when he served well, and was helped by a tired Ivanov as he committed a couple of doublefaults apart from playing some loose shots. ``The idea was to hang in out there and give it the best shot. I wasn't feeling too good physically towards the end, and that was how I couldn't hit an easy overhead at the net in that 12th game. But I am happy that I served well in the tie-break," said Ajay, as he summed up the match. Ajay, looking for his second semifinal entry of the season after the one earlier in Canada, will meet Kedar Tembe who played his wily left-handed game to good effect against the serve and volley specialist Vishaal Uppal, to be home in straight sets. Vishaal recovered from being 1-5 down in the first set, but could not fight on for long against the all-round efficiency of Tembe, who cracked a few fine passing shots apart from effective lobs. The 18-year-old Jaco Mathew could have finished off his match against qualifier Yew Ming Si a lot earlier but for a brief hiccup in the second set. To his credit, the Malaysian came up with big serves, but Jaco handled his own service games so well, that he did not face a breakpoint except for the first game when he had to save three breakpoints. The Malaysian was perhaps drained after nearly six hours of play in singles and doubles on Tuesday. He was thus unable to move with his usual zeal, though his serves had enough power to sail through for 10 aces. ``I knew I could hold on to my serve. I missed a few breakpoints on his serve when he was 0-40 and 15-40 in a couple of games in the second set. He served big, and it was tough to judge," said Jaco, who will be meeting Rishi Sridhar in his maiden singles quarterfinals at this level. Rishi himself was quite professional in hustling Jan Masik with his sharp game. More than his game, Rishi impressed with his positive attitude, as he refused to be intimidated by the classy game of his opponent, and found a way to assert his own class. ``It feels good to win like this after such a long break. I have been training hard under coach Rajiv Vijaykumar recently, and the hard work seems to be paying off. I look forward to continue my good work and make the semifinals, as I haven't reached that far for nearly two years," said Rishi. Vinod Sridhar will be up against Ivan Lobanov in one of the quarterfinals, while Manoj will have to tackle Juraj Hasko in another. The national champions may have it tough, but each of the other four Indian players, figuring in the top half, can fancy a place in the final. That is a very positive situation, considering the fact that the better ranked Indian players had fallen in a heap in the first round, projecting a gloomy picture of Indian tennis. In doubles, the national champions Nitin Kirtane and Saurav Panja beat the champion team of the Chandigarh event Sunil Kumar and Ajay Ramaswami in straight sets. Mohammed Yasser Arafat and Amod Wakalkar regrouped themselves after losing the first set to win in two tie-breaks against the fourth-seeded Kamala Kannan and Rishi Sridhar. The results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Jaco T. Mathew bt Yew Ming Si (Mas) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4); Rishi Sridhar bt Jan Masik (Cze) 6-4, 6-4; Ajay Ramaswami bt Pavel Ivanov (Rus) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); Kedar Tembe bt Vishaal Uppal 7-5, 6-4; Vinod Sridhar bt Boris Borgula (Svk) 6-1, 6-2; Pavel Lobanov (Rus) bt Evgueni Smirnov (Rus) 7-5, 6-3; Manoj Mahadevan bt Joseph Huber (Aut) 6-2, 6-3; Juraj Hasko (Svk) bt Kamala Kannan 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. Doubles (quarterfinals): Vijay Kannan/Vishaal Uppal bt Rohan Gajjar/Manoj Mahadevan 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); Mohammed Yasser Arafat/Amod Wakalkar bt Rishi Sridhar/Kamala Kannan 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3); Nitin Kirtane/Saurav Panja bt Ajay Ramaswami/Sunil Kumar 6-4, 6-4; Anton Kokurin (Rus)/Pavel Lobanov (Rus) bt Pavel Ivanov/Evgueni Smirnov (Rus) 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5.
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