The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Indians advance with ease

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 16, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Indians advance with ease

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, JUNE 15. The Satellite circuit is a tough grind. Richard Irwin of Britain, the energetic 18-year-old who had made it to the final of the first leg last week, had a first hand experience of it, as he bowed out in the first round of the second leg at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

Though the 1056th ranked Britain quoted a wrist injury in calling a halt to the proceedings early in the second set, it was clear that the heat drained him physically.

Of course it was a tough draw for the stylish Irwin as he was playing second-seeded Norikazu Sugiyama of Japan, ranked 501 in the world. The Japanese broke the resistance of the Britain early in his 6-4, 2-0 victory. He will meet wild card entrant Ashutosh Singh who ousted qualifier Mohammed Yasser Arafat without breaking into a sweat.

There was no such problem of playing many matches for the 31-year-old Prahlad Srinath, as he brushed aside fellow qualifier Rahul Rajkhewa in a clinical fashion, losing a mere four games in all.

It was Srinath's 11th match in 10 days, as he had to play the qualifying event both the weeks, but the Deputy Manager of Indian Oil, played as fluently as ever in setting up a repeat clash with the third-seeded Vinod Sridhar.

Vinod, who beat Dong-Whee Choi of Korea, another repeat of the first week, with a better margin (conceding only three games as compared to the four last time), will try to set the record straight against Srinath, having lost to him in straight sets.

Ajay Ramaswami was in such superb form that his opponent Hiu-Tung Yu of Hong Kong cried a halt early in the second set, after failing to win a game in eight.

The fifth-seeded Vishaal Uppal served big in overpowering qualifier Rishi Sridhar who was hampered by a shoulder pain. Uppal will play David Brewer in the next round.

The qualifier Syed Rahil, who put out Jaume Barberan-Miguel of Spain easily, has the tough task of meeting top-seeded Sunil Kumar in the second round.

Sunil, who had made it to the semifinals of a Challenger last month, asserted his class against the hard-stroking Kamala Kannan.

The results (first round): Sunil Kumar bt Kamala Kannan 6-3, 6-2; Syed Rahil bt Jaume Barberan-Miguel (Esp) 6-3, 6-2; David Brewer (GBR) bt Rohan Gide 6-2, 6-3; Vishaal Uppal bt Rishi Sridhar 6-4, 6-3; Ross Hutchins (GBR) bt Mat Lowe (GBR) 6-1, 6-1; Ajay Ramaswami bt Hiu-Tung Yu (Hkg) 6-0, 2-0 (retd.); Shahzad Khan (Pak) bt Roger Lacaci-Dominguez (Esp) 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); Prahlad Srinath bt Rahul Rajkhewa 6-4, 6-0; Vinod Sridhar bt Dong-Whee Choi (Kor) 6-2, 6-1; Joshua Goodall (GBR) bt Rahul Sankhla 6-1, 6-0; Jaco Mathew bt Shivang Mishra 6-3, 6-4; Ashutosh Singh bt Mohammed Yasser Arafat 6-3, 6-3; Norikazu Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Richard Irwin (GBR) 6-4, 2-0 (retd.).

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