Sport - Tennis   

Indians up against heavy odds

By Khalyan N. Ashok

DHARWAD Oct. 6. Indians in the main draw are once again up against big odds in the opener of the $ 25,000 ATP Challenger tennis championship, which gets underway here from Tuesday.

Six Indians figure in the main raw list, besides Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna. The other Indian contenders, who are there as wild cards, are Harsh Mankad, Sunil Kumar Sipayea, Mustafa Ghouse and Vishal Uppal.

Mankad meets the big serving second seed, Michal Mertinak of Slovakia, while Mustafa Ghouse runs into Alex Bogdanovic of Great Britain. Vishal Uppal faces Lee Childs of Great Britain, the runner-up at Tumkur.

Rohan Bopanna, takes on the sixth seed, Vadim Kutsenko of Uzbekistan and Prakash Amritraj faces Yuri Schukin of Russia. Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, who gave a good display at Tumkur, will play Takahrio Terrachi of Japan.

On the first day, only Bopanna and Ghouse will play their matches while other Indians will play their first match on Wednesday.

The seeds took a beating at the first leg at Tumkur and are determined to redeem their pride. Heading the list is Danai Udomchoke, of Thailand, ranked 185, who didn't play in the fist Challenger at Tumkur.

Both Michal Tabara and Fukarek of Czech Republic, have pulled out from the events here and at Belgaum. Also to skip the Dharwad event is Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, the world junior champion, who made the semifinals at Tumkur.

Prakash Amritraj and his South African partner, Rik De Voest, the champions at Tumkur, are the top seeded in doubles.

In the final qualifying tie, Vinod Sridhar defeated Sonchat Ratiwatana 6-1,6-2 while Kontero Masuda prevailed over Sonchai Ratiwatana of Thailand 6-7(2-7),6-4, the Thai contender, chose to retire after the second set.

Leonardo Azzaro of Italy also made the main draw beating Ville Lukko of Finland 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

The last of the qualifying round tie between,Lauri Kiski of Finland and Aisam- Ul- Haq Quereshi of Pakistan will be played on Tuesday.

The seedings: singles: 1. Danai Udomchoke (Tha); 2. Michal Mertinak (Svk); 3. Yue-Tzuoo Wang (Tpe); 4. Rik De Voest (RSA); 5. Phillipp Kohlschreiber (Ger); 6. Vadim Kutsenko (Uzb); 7. Guillermo Garcia Lopez (Esp); 8. Marcello Craca (Ger).

Doubles: 1. Prakash Amritraj (Ind) / Rik de Voest (RSA); 2. Rohan Bopanna / Harsh Mankad (Ind); 3. Toshihde Matsuda (Jpn) / Danai Udomchoke; 4. Vadim Kutsenko (Uzb) / Yuri Schukin (Rus).

The results (final qualifying round): Vinod Sridhar (Ind) bt Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) 6-1, 6-2; Kontero Masuda (Jpn) bt Sonchai Ratiwatana (Tha) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4; Leonardo Azzaro (Ita bt Ville Lukko (Fin) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

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