The Hindu : Udomchoke undeterred by Lottum's antics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 02, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Udomchoke undeterred by Lottum's antics

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Thailand's Danai Udomchoke in action against the Netherlands' John van Lottum in the quaterfinals of the Servo Challenger tennis tournament in New Delhi on Thursday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI MAY 1. He looked good, till he cracked. The top-seeded John van Lottum of the Netherlands could not bear the heat generated by the clinical play of Danai Udomchoke of Thailand and crashed out in the quarterfinals of the Indian Oil Servo $25,000 Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

After sparring for a better part of the contest, the talented Udomchoke landed the decisive punches in the 12th game of the second set when he broke the Dutch at 15.

Having dictated terms throughout the match till then, although he had only one break to show, in the eighth game of the first set, van Lottum was on the back foot, and he did not like it.

The Dutchman's situation was further complicated when Udomchoke broke him in the second game of the decider, converting the second breakpoint. The Thai was by now serving well and stroking with his usual assurance on either flank, even as van Lottum showed signs of being tired, both physically and mentally.

Once Udomchoke held serve in the third game, the contest was over, as an irritated van Lottum served double faults and hit loose shots all over the place to throw himself out of the tournament like the colourful umbrellas that were being thrown around the courts by the swift breeze.

The 105th ranked Dutch won just one point in his last two service games.

He banged the fence, hit the ball out of the court, smashed a water bottle and shouted "hurry up'' to Udomchoke when the latter was getting ready to serve.

Turning his attention to the ball boys and linesmen at the backcourt, van Lottum shrieked, "why are you laughing? Is it funny."

It was definitely not funny to see the 27-year-old Dutch, ranked as high as 62 in 1999, behave like a spoilt kid that was breaking its toy in sheer anger. Van Lottum had reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1998 and the third round of the U.S. Open in 1997 and 1999. He had played a solid game in this tournament, before he decided to pack his bags.

Udomchoke was not perturbed by the antics of his rival and played his game with commendable poise. Having lost in the first round of the last Challenger in Bangalore, the 217th ranked Udomchoke grabbed his chance to make his fifth semifinal at the Challenger level.

``I got lucky in the second game of the third set, when I broke him. I put pressure on him and he got broken once again in the fourth game. I played well today. In the first set, I just tried to be there with him in the rallies. Later, I attacked. He looked tired in the end'', said Udomchoke, as he summed up the match.

The Thai had done well in India before, and was quite comfortable under the dry Delhi heat. On the other hand, van Lottum played one bad game in the 12th game of the second set and was not prepared to tackle the tough Thai in the third set, in a gripping contest that spanned an hour and 45 minutes.

Udomchoke who assured himself a minimum of 22 ATP points and $1255, will meet the 258th ranked Louis Vosloo of South Africa.

The champion of the Bangalore event, Gregory Carraz of France continued his march by taming qualifier Jonathan Erlich for the loss of four games. The Israeli Erlich had been drained following five three-setters in a row, and could not offer a meaningful challenge to the sharp game of the Frenchman.

The 28-year-old Carraz, ranked 123 in January this year, had made it to the semifinals of a similar Challenger a few years ago at the same venue, when he missed a match point in losing to the eventual champion, Leander Paes.

``I was very tired after Bangalore. Now, I am happy to be in the semifinals. Today was pretty easy, and I was lucky in the first match when my opponent retired after only two games'', said Carraz, quite comfortable with the conditions here.

The Frenchman will be challenged by the fifth-seeded Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland, who beat compatriot Yves Allegro in three sets.

Harsh-Vishaal duo

bows out

In the doubles, there was some consolation for Jonathan Erlich, as he and Andy Ram, seeded second, downed Harsh Mankad and Vishaal Uppal in the quarterfinals in straight sets. Incidentally, that was the last token of Indian resistance in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Radoslav Lukaev and Dmitry Vlasov defeated the third-seeded Yuri Schukin and Orest Tereshchuk in a second set tie-break to book their final berth.

The second doubles semifinal will be played first on Friday from 3 p.m. followed by the singles semifinals. Doordarshan will telecast the matches `live'.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Danai Udomchoke (Tha) bt John Van Lottum (Ned) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0; Louis Vosloo (RSA) bt Rodolphe Cadart (Fra) 6-4, 6-2; Ivo Heuberger (Sui) bt Yves Allegro (Sui) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4; Gregory Carraz (Fra) bt Jonathan Erlich (Isr) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles (Semifinals): Radoslav Lukaev (Bul) & Dmitry Vlasov (Rus) bt Yuri Schukin (Rus) & Orest Tereshchuk (Ukr) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Quarterfinals: Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (Isr) bt Harsh Mankad and Vishaal Uppal 6-4, 6-3.

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