The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Divij ousts Sugiyama

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 10, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Divij ousts Sugiyama

By Kamesh Srinivasan

GURGAON, NOV. 9. Wild card Divij Sharan dismissed the 346th ranked top seed Norikazu Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit at the NTA Complex here on Tuesday.

It was a shot in the arm for the 18-year-old Divij as he has generally been grappling with his indifferent form that saw him being ousted early in the National championship recently.

The gutsy left-hander, Divij played well within himself and with admirable composure, moving into his strokes with a keen sense of urgency and executing them with a touch of assurance, even as the pony-tailed Sugiyama, a champion of the last Satellite circuit in India, blew his top at the treacherous behaviour of the clay court.

Without taking anything away from the effort of Divij, it may be said that the uneven surface was the leveller between the unranked Indian and the 346th ranked Japanese.

As Divij ran up a 5-1 lead in the first set and a 4-0 lead in the second, Sugiyama cursed his fate and struggled to keep pace with the Indian lad. When Divij's first serve kicked and flew high over Sugiyama's helpless racquet for an ace to give the seventh game in the second set for Divij, the Japanese had no option but to resign to his fate.

To his credit, Divij retained his high level of concentration and closed out the match. Sugiyama reluctantly shook hands with his opponent, and gave vent to his frustration afterwards by throwing a chair and a water bottle on to the court, and kicked the ground in a desperate expression of retaliation.

The Japanese had been given a `code violation' warning earlier by the chair umpire Nitin Kannamwar, as Sugiyama had dug up the court, quite annoyed by its poor behaviour. "I like to play on clay courts, but these courts ...", yelled Sugiyama, unable to hide his disappointment. It will not be a surprise if the Japanese makes an abrupt exit from the circuit.

Srinath, Vishal out

Prahlad Srinath, a seasoned specialist of the clay court craft, gave up after nine games against qualifier Davor Kuseta of Croatia, quoting pain in his scapular muscles at the back of his shoulders. He too pulled out of the circuit, joining Vinod Sridhar, and boarded an evening flight to his home.

In another lively encounter that spanned more than three hours, former National champion Punna Vishal missed two match-points in the tenth game of the decider and bowed out to 847th ranked Andreas Fasching of Austria.

Vijay Kannan recovered from a bad start and turned the tide in his favour against wild card entrant Karan Rastogi. The sixth-seeded Vijay broke Karan in the 11th game of the second set and went on to take a 4-0 lead in the decider. It was a quality fare, but Karan was unable to keep pace with the intensity of Vijay's game as the match progressed.

The second-seeded Sunil Kumar was a delight to watch as he shut out Mustafa Ghouse at love in the third set after a gripping contest in the first two sets. Sunil will meet lucky-loser Vivek Shokeen who beat another lucky-loser Varun Walia.

Vishaal Uppal was happy with his game as he served eight aces on his way to a straightforward victory over Alin Alexandra Simion of Romania. He faced only one breakpoint in the whole match, in the fourth game of the second set, and Vishaal delivered a second serve ace that flew high beyond the reach of his tall opponent.

Ajay Ramaswami, ruthless in stroking his way past Peter Mayer-Tischer of Germany, will have to fight another German, the third-seeded Simon Greul in the pre-quarterfinals.

The results:

Singles (first round): Divij Sharan bt Norikazu Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3; Konstantin Gruber (Aut) bt Pathanjali Ravishankar 6-4, 6-4; Anreas Fasching (Aut) bt Punna Vishal 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (5); Vijay Kannan bt KaranRastogi 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) bt Patrick John Tierro (Phi) 6-4, 6-2; Davor Kuseta (Cro) btPrahlad Srinath 5-4 (conceded); JosephHuber (Aut) bt Arindam Datta 6-0, 6-2; Tobias Koeck (Aut) bt Kamala Kannan 7-6 (4), 6-0; Sascha Kloer (Ger) bt Marcel Miron (Rom) 6-2, 6-2; Ajay Ramaswami bt Peter Mayer-Tischer (Ger) 6-2, 6-1; Simon Greul (Ger) bt Mohammed Shaaban (Egy) 6-3, 6-1; Vishaal Uppal bt Alin Alexandra Simion (Rom) 6-4, 6-4; Sergei Krotiouk (Rus) bt Sherif Sabry (Egy) 6-2, 6-1; Vivek Shokeen bt Varun Walia 6-2, 6-0; Sunil Kumar bt Mustafa Ghouse 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Doubles (second and final qualifying round): Dmitriy Makeyev (Kaz) & Varun Walia bt Anant Kumar Anumaganti & Arindam Datta 6-4, 6-3.

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