The Hindu : Sport : India blanks Uzbekistan

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Monday, May 02, 2005

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India blanks Uzbekistan

Kamesh Srinivasan

JOB WELL DONE: Harsh Mankad carried on the good work of his teammates with a straight-set victory against Hurad Inoyatov. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

JAIPUR: Captain Leander Paes decided to lead by example once again as he kept the records waiting and put Harsh Mankad in action in his place, silencing the argument that there was nothing at stake in a dead rubber.

In the event, both the 245th ranked Harsh and the 293rd ranked Prakash Amritraj justified the faith of their captain and emphasised their competence on the tricky grass, as India wound up 5-0 against the hapless Uzbekistan in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group `I' second round tie at the Jai Club courts here on Sunday.

In the first of the reverse singles, Prakash Amritraj did not drop his serve even once but was stretched to three sets by the Uzbek No.1 Farrukh Dustov. The 21-year-old Prakash eventually prevailed 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in two hours.

Good show

Harsh got broken once while serving for the first set, but took just half that time in outplaying the third member of the Uzbek squad, Murad Inoyatov, who had replaced Denis Istomin, 7-5, 6-1.

Having ensured qualification for the World Group play-off after the doubles triumph on Saturday, Leander was happy to carry the kit bag of his No.1 ranked player in leading him on to the centrestage. It was perhaps his way of appreciating the growth Harsh has shown in recent months both in the Davis Cup arena and on the professional tour.

The decision may delay Leander reaching Ramanathan Krishnan's 50 singles wins and building upon his own overall tally of 74 wins that has put him as No. 8 in the all-time list of successful Davis Cuppers. Yet, it was distinct that the 31-year-old Leander, easily the best among the active players, has confidence in his ability to get the records some day, and is in no hurry to reach them at the earliest.

To him, it is important to get the team ready for the World Group play-off and ahead. The attempt in recent times has been to strengthen the depth in the team so that it is not a one-man show any more. To that end, both Prakash and Harsh have shown considerable appetite to put up a quality show.

Up against a quality opponent, Prakash served and volleyed nicely, playing the percentage game rather than being flashy, even as Dustov tended to rely on his big top-spin drives that pulled him to his doom.

From the manner he started, serving big and stroking with ease, saving three breakpoints in the fourth game and three setpoints on his serve in the tenth game, Dustov looked to have learnt his lessons on grass. He forgot them quickly after the first set and lost as many as 19 points on the trot from 2-1 in the decider in making a meek bow.

As Vijay Amritraj put it, grass not only feels different under the feet, it is different in the mind as well. The Uzbeks never really got around to grasping the requisite technique.

It was Prakash's fourth singles win on the trot. He had lost two matches each against the Netherlands and Japan in his first two ties.

Solid game

The sort of solid game that the 25-year-old Harsh plays these days, he would be a delight to watch on the hardcourts, especially when he spanks those breathtaking returns on the rise. Playing in his tenth tie after having faced the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Sjeng Schalken, Andreas Vinciguerra and Mikael Tillstrom, the Mumbaikar was too smart for Inoyatov, though he doublefaulted twice in dropping the tenth game.

The team will have adequate time to sharpen its form and fitness for the World Group play-off tie to be staged in September.

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