The Hindu : Sanjay ousts Abhay

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sanjay ousts Abhay

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI Sept. 23. Familiarity with the court surface gave Sanjay Salian a decisive edge in the ITF's junior tournament 2003. The Mumbai qualifier stuck to his strengths against a higher ranked player, chipping away at fourth seed Abhay Prakash's game from his vantage point on the baseline for a 6-2, 7-6 (6) win in a boys singles first round match at the Dr. G.A. Ranade Tennis Centre under floodlights on Monday night.

Salian led a procession of qualifiers into the second round, Australian Stefan Sorani and Hrushikesh Pataskar too winning their first round matches after getting a feel of the hardcourts on the way to the main draw. Fourth seed Prakash found it difficult to come to terms with soft balls, by the time he got a hang of bounce the local lad was already into his groove. Rain-wrecked schedule on the opening day also forced players to kill time for long hours before matches resumed, adding an element of mental fatigue.

The Mumbai collegian, training at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) under coaches Shivshankar and Manoj Vaidya, was in a better frame of mind having come through the qualifying grind and so kept himself motivated against the fourth seed.

Coach Vaidya felt Salian's solidity will stand him in good stead, saying: "Salian is a physically strong player, a hard worker in practise sessions, so can only get better by playing tougher opponents. He has been training at the MSLTA for seven years now and appears to be a determined person.''

Salian is also playing the doubles, teaming up with Aniket Ghaskadvi who found qualifier Stefan Sorani too hot to handle in the singles, going down in straight sets.

Pataskar, the third qualifier still in the fray, put out Sri Lankan Sivendran Nishendiren 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday where rains again made a hash of schedule.

The girls' matches produced just one unexpected result with eighth seed E. Ashmitha going down to unseeded Shwetha Kakhandki in straight sets. The ITF tournament is sponsored and organised by MSLTA.

The results (Indians unless specified): Boys singles (first round): 1-Tushar Liberhan bt Krishank Shah 6-2, 6-1; Stefan Sorani (Australia) bt Aniket Ghaskadvi 7-5, 6-4; Rohan Gide bt Sandeep Kumar 2-6, 6-1, 6-1; 5-Siddharth Patil bt Vikramaditya Menon 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Sanjay Salian bt 4-Abhay Prakash 6-2, 7-6 (6); Gautam Samarth bt Jitin Bishnoi 4-6, 7-5, 6-4; Wrik Ganguly bt Arnav Jain 6-4, 7-5; 6-Saurabh Kohli bt Allon Moses 6-1, 6-4; 7-Jeevan Nedunchenzhiy bt Kaushik Raju 6-3, 6-1; Hrushikesh Pataskar bt Sivendran Nishendiren (Sri Lanka) 6-4, 6-2; S. Prateek bt Shishir Patil 6-4, 6-4; 3-Navdeep Singh bt Vivek Shokeen 6-1, 6-1; 8-Siddharth Gulati bt Mark Silva 6-2, 6-3; Raja Purav bt Mangal Sriram 6-2, 6-3; Aditya Madkekar bt Kunal Pawa 6-0, 6-1; 2-Rupesh Roy bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-3.

Girls singles (first round): Swetha Devaraj bt Isha Toor 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-4; 3-Vandana Murali bt Sonali Sanap 6-1, 6-1; 6-Parul Goswami bt Sandhya Nagaraj 7-6 (3), 6-3; Oormila Ram bt Sanjana Kapur 6-2, 6-2; 2-Madura Ranganathan bt Poojashree Venkatesh 3-6, 6-0 (conceded); Shwetha Kankhandki bt 8-E Ashmitha 6-1, 6-1.

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