The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Punna Vishal advances

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 17, 2004

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Punna Vishal advances

By Kamesh Srinivasan

GURGAON, NOV. 16. Punna Vishal played an all-round game to defeat Peter Mayer-Tischer of Germany 7-5, 6-2 in the first round of the second leg in the ITF Satellite tennis circuit at the NTA Complex here on Tuesday.

It was a creditable effort from the 804th ranked former National champion, as Vishal handled the challenge from the 678th ranked German with equanimity.

Coupled with qualifier Rupesh Roy's 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over another qualifier, the 1317th ranked Dmitri Makeyev of Kazakhstan, it was the only silver lining for the Indian camp which endured many a heartbreak this day.

While Punna Vishal will take on the sixth-seeded Vishaal Uppal who served big and volleyed with authority in taming wild card entrant Tushar Liberhan, Vijay Kannan emerged the only other Indian to make the second round as he humbled Mustafa Ghouse in straight sets.

Vivek Shokeen, Karan Rastogi, Ashutosh Singh, Pathanjali Ravishankar and Kamala Kannan lost close matches in which they had their share of chances. All of them lost the third set and it was not for want of physical stamina.

Poor courts

Wild card Vivek served and stroked with conviction but allowed the second-seeded Norikazu Sugiyama to escape to victory in the third set. Vivek started well but did not have the finish to make it memorable for himself, the way Divij Sharan had done against the same Japanese opponent last week.

Though he did not hide his displeasure over playing on an apology of clay courts which hardly allowed him to strike a rhythm, Rastogi fought gamely in making it a close affair. He had his chances against the 582nd ranked seventh seed Tobias Koeck of Austria, but could not hang on to the tempo on winning the second set.

Heart-breaking

It was indeed a heart-breaking experience for Ashutosh, as he lost a gripping duel against Adam Fass of the US that lasted three hours and 15 minutes. Fass who emerged a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4 winner, broke Ashutosh decisively in the seventh game of the decider, as he converted the fifth breakpoint in that game.

Fass and his coach made a big fuss about the conditions most of the time, and the referee Nitin Kannamwar had to pull up the coach as the latter watered the court to speed up matters of preparation, during a break.

While Fass and his coach got away with their constant abusive language, qualifier Rick Schalkers of the Netherlands was slapped a code violation point penalty for audible obscenity by umpire Birbal Wadhera. It was another close contest, and Schalkers managed to beat the left-handed Ravishankar rather comprehensively in the third set.

The same was the case with Ravishankar's doubles partner Kamala Kannan who started well, winning the first set, but lost the decider rather tamely to Andreas Fasching of Austria. The 845th ranked Fasching will meet the 543rd ranked Vijay Kannan in the pre-quarterfinals.

Basically, it was the inability of the Indian players to handle the conditions that stood out. It was a foreign surface for most of the Indian players, while the foreigners felt at home, though the bad bounce made most of them blow their top.

The champion of the first leg, the third-seeded Simon Greul of Germany showed the art of mastering even a bad clay court, as he beat the semifinalist of last week, Konstantin Gruber of Austria, in an entertaining match of high intensity and quality.

The results:

Singles: first round: Rick Schalkers (Ned) bt Pathanjali Ravishankar 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) bt Sherif Sabry (Egy) 6-0, 6-1; Stefano Ianni (Ita) bt Hiu-Tung Yu (Hkg) 6-4, 6-1; Simon Greul (Ger) bt Konstantin Gruber (Aut) 6-3, 7-5; Sascha Kloer (Ger) bt Marcel Miron (Rom) 6-1, 6-2; Punna Vishal bt Peter Mayer-Tischer (Ger) 7-5, 6-2; Vishaal Uppal bt Tushar Liberhan 7-6(5), 6-3; Tobias Koeck (Aut) bt Karan Rastogi 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; Sergei Krotiouk (Rus) bt Arindam Datta 6-3, 6-4; Adam Fass (US) bt Ashutosh Singh 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-4; Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) bt Mohammed Shaaban (Egy) 6-3, 6-1; Vijay Kannan bt Mustafa Ghouse 6-1, 7-5; Andreas Fasching (Aut) bt Kamala Kannan 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Rupesh Roy bt Dmitri Makeyev (Kaz) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Norikazu Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Doubles: pre-quarterfinals: Ashutosh Singh/Gurmehar Singh bt Rupesh Roy/Divij Sharan 7-6(6), 7-6(3).

Qualifying event: second and final round: Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb)/Dmitri Makeyev (Kaz) bt Scott Paltrowitz (US)/Rick Schalkers (Ned) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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