Wednesday, Oct 15, 2003
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Tennis
By Khalyan N. Ashok
Harsh Mankad stretches for a return on way to victory over Briton James Auckland in the first round of the ATP Challenger Series at Belgaum on Tuesday.
Harsh, ranked 351 and 200 spots above Auckland, was favoured to win the contest, but then Auckland proved how dangerous he could be with his steady serve and powerful groundstrokes. Harsh had to earn every point, as the Briton slugged away from the baseline. Adding to Harsh's woes was the court. The court No. 4 was swathed in shadows from the nearby trees and the new surface played much slower than he would have liked. After a tight first set, which he lost in the tie-breaker, Harsh came back in the second set, and, in the decider looked a winner all the way, though the tie spilled into the tie-breaker. In the first set, both players held serves with relative ease. In the tie-breaker, Auckland, hitting with power and precision, jumped to a 6-2 lead, before Harsh cut the deficit to 4-6. Harsh began on a strong note in the second set as he took a 3-0 lead after breaking Auckland in the second game. Harsh looked good, playing with a lot more conviction and control. But, Auckland was far from beaten, as he charged back to break Harsh in the seventh game (3-4) and levelled the set on serve in the next game (4-4). Harsh went up 6-5 and forced Auckland to three deuces in the 12th game and grabbed the break and set with a delightful forehand volley. In the decider, a rejuvenated Harsh was right on the ball and kept up the pressure to lead 5-4. In the 10th game he held two matchpoints, pinning Auckland down on his serve at 15-40. But the gritty Briton fought his way back to deuce, with Harsh rushing his returns, and then seized the advantage with a smash and held serve for 5-all with a volley winner. The set went into the tie-breaker where Harsh went 4-3 up with a lucky net chord and then forced Auckland to return wide and took control at 6-3. Auckland claimed one more point with Harsh slamming a high return out. But with Auckland hammering another return wide, Harsh was home. "It was a tough opener and it really helped me get adjusted to the court and other conditions here. I hope to play much better,'' said Harsh, after his tiring stint. The two Indian wild cards, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Mustafa Ghouse, however, made their exits. Sipaeya went down to Branislav Sekac of Slovakia 1-6, 6-7 (8-10) in a shade under two hours. Sipaeya, after dropping the first set, played much better in the second and the tie-breaker, which was a very close affair. Mustafa Ghouse looked in good nick as he took the first set 6-2 against Slovakian Viktor Bruthans. Bruthans, who sought medical attention and contemplated conceding the match as he suffered a leg cramp, stayed on to turn the tide. Bruthans won the second set 6-4. In the decider, down 3-5, Mustafa saved eight matchpoints and broke serve to keep his hopes alive. It, however, ended with Bruthans cracking him again in the 10th game for a 6-4 win. Third-seeded Michal Mertinak's poor run in the series continued as smooth-stroking Swiss Stephanne Bohli shocked him at 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. In the last singles match of the day, eighth-seeded Marcello Craca of Germany defeated lucky loser Go Soeda of Japan 6-0, 6-2. The results (prefix indicates seeding): Singles (first round): Harsh Mankad (Ind) bt James Auckland (GB) 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); Stephanne Bohli (Sui) bt 3-Michal Mertinak (Svk) 7-6 (7-3), 6-2; Viktor Bruthans (Svk) bt Mustafa Ghouse (Ind) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Branislav Sekac (Svk) bt Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) 6-1, 7-6 (10-8); 8-Marcello Craca (Ger) bt Go Soeda (Jpn) 6-0, 6-2; 4-Rik de Voest (RSA) bt Michael Lammer (Sui) 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Doubles: Punna Vishal/Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) bt Ashutosh Singh/Gurmaher Singh (Ind) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); Teimuraz Gabashvill/Dmitry Vlasov (Rus) bt Vijay Kannan/Ajay Ramaswamy (Ind) 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); James Auckland/Lee Childs (GB) bt 4-Vadim Kutsenko (Uzb)/Orest Tereshchuk (Ukr) 7-5, 6-4; 2-Matsui Toshide (Jpn)/ Danai Udomchoke (Tha) bt S. Groen (Ned)/L. Kiski ( Fin) 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).
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