The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sridhar in last eight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 09, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Sridhar in last eight

By A. Joseph Antony

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 8. Second seeded Vinod Sridhar advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the International Tennis Federation Futures with an authoritative 6-0, 6-2 victory over A.R. Anand Kumar at the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh complex here on Wednesday. Equally facile were the wins of the remaining seeds, except for Vijay Kannan, who was extended by Kai Lung Chang in the former's 7-6(3), 7-6(3) win.

Sridhar forced the pace right from the start, at times too scorching for Anand Kumar, himself an aggressive baseliner. Especially when serving, Sridhar kept the exchanges short, breaking away to a 6-0 verdict in the opening set.

Anand showed the resolve to resist his opponent by holding serve in the first game of the second set. Sridhar's dominance could not be denied as he wrested the third game with his forceful forehanders. These rendered Anand's rushes to the net futile, as Sridhar patted lobs well beyond his opponent's reach. Presently, it became an uphill task for Anand not to drop games on serve as he surrendered the second set, 2-6.

Lucky loser Vikas Punna, nursing a shoulder strain from Tuesday's strenuous singles and doubles, met more than his match in top seed Aqeel Khan. Hailing from a family of squash players, the Karachi native dished out a fine display of double-fisted forehanders, which Davis Cupper S.P. Misra described as a rarity among right-handers.

Chris Kwon of Boca Raton, Florida overcame Kedar Tembe's challenge 7-5, 6-4. In the process, his searing down-the-line returns, particularly those off his backhand and his cross-court returns to the corners of Kedar's court, kept the Maharashtra lad in check.

The American may not have expected to encounter such opposition from a qualifier, though. In one rally of crosscourt volleys, close to the net, Tembe got the better of Kwon. With a flourish peculiar to left-handers, Tembe put a foot out to get behind the ball and reinforce his double-handed returns off his backhand.

That Tembe couldn't sustain the tempo proved to be his undoing, his own errors contributing to the loss of the 11th game, while serving. In the second set, Kwon pumped up the pace, looking up at his father John Kwon in the stands, each time he fired a winner. Such glances increased in frequency and though Tembe's fight was valiant, it was the visitor who prevailed.

The results (all Indians unless indicated otherwise):

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vishal Punna bt Arjun Goutham 6-2, 6-3, Vinod Sridhar bt A.R. Anand Kumar 6-0, 6-2, Ajay Ramaswami bt Ravishankar Pathanjali 6-3, 6-3, Sanam Singh bt Jaco Mathew 6-1, 6-1, Chris Kwon (U.S.) bt Kedar Tembe 7-5, 6-4, Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Vikas Punna 6-0, 6-0, Tai Wei Liu (Tpe) bt Nitin Kirtane 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, Vijay Kannan bt Kai Lung Chang (Tpe) 7-6(3), 7-6(3).

Doubles (quarterfinals): Ashutosh Singh/Gurmehar Singh bt Anand Kumar/Rohan Gide 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Jaco Mathew/Vinod Sridhar bt Arindam Datta/Vishal Punna 6-4, 6-2; Chris Kwon(U.S.)/Tai Wei Liu (Tpe) bt Vijay Kannan/Aqeel Khan 6-2, 6-3; Mustafa Ghouse/Ajay Ramaswami bt Nitin Kirtane/Ravishanker Pathanjali 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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