Sport - Tennis   

Rohan, Prakash bow out

By Khalyan N. Ashok

TUMKUR Sept. 30. The opening day of the $25,000 ATP Challenger tennis championship began at the Mahatma Gandhi Stadium here on a disappointing note as both the Indian Davis Cuppers, Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna, bowed out in the opening rounds.

Their exit came in contrasting fashion, as Rohan battled all the way before succumbing to the sixth seeded German Marcello Craca 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7) in two hours 13 minutes, while Prakash Amritraj lost to Lee Martin of Great Britain 2-6, 3-6. Though the scoreline looks lopsided, Prakash kept his rival at bay for a while, forcing him to long rallies and pushed him to deuces on his serve, but what mattered was the ability of Martin, who was once ranked in top 100, to seize crucial breaks at early stages and hang in there, putting every ball back into rival's court. He was not all fire and flair, but was totally consistent with his returns and Prakash often rushing his strokes, played right into his hands.

In the first set, Lee Martin broke Prakash in the third game and sealed the set with another one in the seventh game. The hopes of a grand revival by Prakash was snuffed out in the first game of the second set, where he conceded a break and Martin just stayed on course, relentlessly churning out blistering groundstrokes on both flanks.

Rohan Bopanna's tenacity makes him battle for every point. Rohan served and volleyed with precision, against his hard-hitting rival. He fired in as many as 14 aces as against two of Craca, but then again the German showed greater staying power, going on and on, against a determined Rohan. The tie was marked by some sparkling rallies and big hitting by both the players.

In the first set, a single break in the ninth game did Rohan in, as Craca, who grabbed the winning point with Rohan's mishit, seized a 5-4 lead and then quickly closed the set at 6-4.

It was Rohan's turn to strike back in the second set as he stepped up the pace, blasting his forehand winners and he broke Craca in the sixth game and charged to a 6-3 win.

The decider saw both players giving very little away as they traded shots and Rohan pulled no punches with his first serve, blasting as many as four aces in the 10th game. Craca held his ground and the set soon spilled into tie-breaker. Craca held the edge as he surged to 4-2 lead before Rohan whipped down a volley winner and made it 3-4. Rohan then slammed three successive returns out to drop the set and match.

"It was anybody's match and I am disappointed but I could quite control the ball, the bounce was disconcerting on this court'', said Rohan.

Michal Tabara is a familiar name and the Czech star, who was a finalist at the ATP event in Chennai few years ago, later suffered a slump because of injuries. He is now on a comeback trail and Tabara, who is seeded fifth here, made a short work of Michael Lammer of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1.

In the last singles event of the day, Ola Fukarek of Czech Republic trounced Dmitry Vlasov of Russia 6-1, 6-4.

On Wednesday, the remaining 12 main draw singles will be played and it will feature the rest of the Indians in the fray who include Harsh Mankad, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Karan Rastogi.

The results (prefix indicates seeding, all Indians unless specified): Singles: 5-Michal Tabara (Cze) bt Michael Lammer (Sui) 6-3, 6-1; 6-Marcello Craca (Ger) bt Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3); Lee Martin (GB) bt Prakash Amritaj 6-2, 6-3; Ola Fukarek (Cze) bt Dmitry Vlasov (Rus) 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles (first round): Marcello Craca (Ger)/Oliver Marach (Aut) bt S1 Leonardo Azzaro (Ita)/ Dmitry Vlasov (Rus) 6-2, 6-4; Vijaya Kannan (Ind)/Ajay Ramaswamy (Ind) bt Francesco Aldi (Ita)/Mustafa Ghouse (Ind) 6-4, 7-5; Michal mertinak (Syk)/Branislav (Svk) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind)/Harsh Mankad (Ind) 7-6(9), 6-3; Stephane (Sui)/Michael (Sui) bt Dieter Kindlmann (Ger)/Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 7-5, 7-5; Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp)/Laurent Recouderc (Fra) bt Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind)/Vishal Uppal 6-4, 7-6(10).

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