Sport - Tennis   

Vishaal conquers Matsui

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI Dec. 1. Punna Vishaal is an advertiser's delight; fast and furious approach coupled with courage to back himself on court. A firm believer in taking risks to win points and matches, the Indian's pace and punch unnerved Japan's Tosihide Matsui, winning 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 inside two hours, throwing open the men's singles main draw of the International Tennis Federation's $10,000 men's Futures.

Punna's conquest of fourth-seeded Matsui on the opening day of the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association-sponsored Mumbai leg may not come as a surprise to those keeping track of the Hyderabad collegian's form over the previous two Futures events at Dehradun and Delhi respectively.

The hard-serving, powerfully-built Japanese felt the pressure building up in the face of constant net forays by his agile rival, almost like running into a wall. Punna troubled Matsui in service games with winners of effortless timing, growing in confidence with every backhand stop volley.

"I played to a plan, putting pressure on him at the net and denying him the pace. I am a serve-and-volley player so it was my normal game, just a little more careful,'' said the happy Indian, who sought advice from seniors Ajay Ramaswamy and Vinod Sridhar to update his information about Matsui, ranked 468th on the ITF computer.

Punna trailed 1-2 in both sets, broken in the first service game before getting into the attacking groove. He broke back in the 10th game of the first set to catch up at 5-5, neutralised a second game loss with two breaks in the second to go 4-3 up, two aces in the sixth making his intentions clear.

Both hit five aces, the Indian wildcard committed more double-faults but kept on firing.

He is also proud of father Shyam Rao for finding means to finance his tennis ambitions despite being a private sector employee. "He works hard so that I can play,'' said Punna, looking out for a sponsor who will take up a part of the load.

Karan Rastogi was the second Indian wildcard to step into the second round, winning in straight sets against an Iranian lucky loser. Indians Manoj Mahadevan and Kedar Tembe clinched two of the eight qualifying places in the singles draw.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles (first round): Punna Vishaal bt 4-Toshihide Matsui 7-6 (4), 6-4; 8-Michael Ouvarov (GBr) bt Yew-Ming Si (Mal) 6-4, 6-3; Ajay Ramaswami bt Rishi Behl 6-2, 7-5; Karan Rastogi bt Mohammed Mohazebnia 6-1, 6-0; 7-Mustafa Ghouse bt Robert Haybittel (Aus) 6-4, 6-2.

Doubles (first round): Ashutosh Singh/Amod Wakalkar bt Saurav Shukla/Ala Tehrani 6-0, 6-3; Karan Rastogi/Somdev Dev Varman bt Aditya Madkekar/Anjan Viplav 6-3, 6-2.

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