Date:06/03/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/06/stories/2006030603721900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Ashutosh and Vijay Kannan qualify

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI: He started the circuit as one of the favourites. But Sanam Singh had a taste of the tough grind in the lower echelons of the game as he lost in the qualifying event of the third leg and stumbled out of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit at the DLTA Complex here on Sunday.

For someone who had won 18 ATP points in one week without dropping a set, it was indeed a chastening experience for the 18-year-old lad from Chandigarh not to have won a single match in three weeks on the circuit and to bow out without winning a solitary ATP point.

He lost 6-7(1), 6-3, 4-6 to Mario Tupy of Austria in the second qualifying round after a bye.

But, as coach Gajendra Singh put it, Sanam would be wiser for the experience and better prepared for the future.

The world No. 6 junior will be playing the grade `I' circuit in Bangkok, Manila and Nagoya shortly before trying to defend his Asian junior title at Cheju in Korea in the grade `B-1' event.

The disappointment of Sanam apart, it was a better fare from the Indian lads as three of them, Vijay Kannan, Ashutosh Singh and Vivek Shokeen made the main draw from a competitive field that had players from 20 countries.

Having won the first two legs, Herbert Wiltschnig of Austria would look to continuing his domination, but some of the others may already have tired after two weeks of toil.

It will be a test of stamina as much as skill this week, and the Indian boys have reason to be optimistic as they have unwittingly conserved themselves for the more profitable business end of the circuit.

None of the Indians have crossed the singles quarterfinals so far in the circuit.

The seeds:

1. Herbert Wiltschnig (Aut), 2. Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb), 3. Manuel Jorquera (Ita), 4. Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor), 5. Julien Maes (Fra), 6. Federico Torresi (Ita), 7. Yuri Bezeruk (Aus), 8. Hyung-Kwon Kim (Kor).

Wild cards: Purav Raja, Mustafa Ghouse, Kaushik Raju and Arindam Datta.

The results (third and final qualifying round): Patrick Tierro (Phi) bt Dipesh Rao 6-4, 7-6(5); Vijay Kannan bt Jochen Schoettler (Ger) 1-6, 7-5, 6-1; Sebastian Louis (Fra) bt Myles Blake (GBR) 6-2, 6-1; Ashutosh Singh bt Vahid Mirzadeh (US) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Patrick Gamauf (Aut) bt Dmitri Makeyev (Kaz) 6-1, 6-4.

Guillaume Canniccioni (Fra) bt R. Arun Prakash 7-5, 6-1; Adam Fass (US) bt Hiroki Kondo (Jpn) 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6(6); Vivek Shokeen bt Mario Tupy (Aut) 6-1, 6-2.