Date:28/01/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/01/28/stories/2005012809671800.htm

Sport - Tennis

Sanam Singh ousted

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, JAN. 27. Third-seeded Sanam K. Singh bowed out of the ONGC-ITF junior tennis tournament at the DKS Sports Complex here on Thursday, losing the boys singles quarterfinal to fifth-seeded Xiao Peng Lai of Hong Kong in three sets.

The other quarterfinals went true to form with Indians — top seed Rupesh Roy, second-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and fourth-seeded Vivek Shokeen — moving into the semifinals. Roy beat unseeded Petr Dostal of the Czech Republic, Nedunchezhiyan defeated eighth-seeded Xu Jun Chao of China and Shokeen beat sixth-seeded Sumit Prakash Gupta of India.

Xiao Peng Lai recovered from being a set down to surprise Sanam Singh and clinched a semifinal spot against Roy. Sanam was in trouble in the second set as he lost all his service games and could not recover in the decider where he won just one game.

In the girls' section, top seed Sandhya Nagaraj of India was made to work hard by unseeded Nigora Sirojiddinova of Uzbekistan. The match, lasting 140 minutes, could have gone either way but the Indian, who lost the opening set tiebreaker, erased the deficit by winning the second set tiebreaker and won the decider easily.

Close contest

Two other matches witnessed a close contest as third-seeded Yulia Parasyuk rallied hard to beat unseeded Tejaswini Datla of India. Local favourite Shivika Burman was shown the door by Asha Nanda Kumar, who won in three sets. Second-seeded German Dominice Ripoll beat Venkatesh Poojashree 7-5, 6-0.

There was a big upset in the girls' doubles semifinals, as the top-seeded Indian pair of Sandhya Nagraj and Vandana Murali lost to Li He Wen Fei and Denise Dy in straight sets. The Indian participation in the girls' doubles ended with the second-seeded pair of G. K. Swetha and Sandri Gangothri losing to the third-seeded team of Eleonora Sitjemileva and Dominice Ripoll.

The results (Indian unless specified):

Boys: Quarterfinals: Rupesh Roy bt Petr Dostal (Cze) 6-4, 6-3; Xiao Peng Lai (Hkg) bt Sanam K. Singh 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; 4-Vivek Shokeen bt 6-Sumit Prakash Gupta 6-2, 6-2; 2-Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Xu Jun Chao (Chn) 6-1, 6-4.

Girls: Quarterfinals: Sandhya Nagaraj bt Nigora Sirojiddinova (Uzb) 6-7(7-9), 7-6(7-3), 6-1; Yulia Parasyuk (Rus) bt Tejaswini Datla 3-6, 7-6(7-5), 6-1; Asha Nanda Kumar bt Shivika Burman 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Dominice Ripoll (Ger) bt Venkatesh Poojashree 7-5, 6-0.

Girls' doubles: Semifinals: Li He Wen Fei (Chn)/Denise Dy (Phi) bt Sandhya Nagraj/Vandana Murali 7-5, 6-2; Eleonora Sitjemileva (Uzb)/Dominice Ripoll (Ger) bt G. K. Swetha/Sandri Gangothri 6-4, 6-2.