The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vijay knocks out Vinod Sridhar

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Wednesday, Jun 01, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Vijay knocks out Vinod Sridhar

Kamesh Srinivasan

GURGAON: Qualifier Vijay Sundar Prashant held his nerves when it mattered and knocked out the third-seeded Vinod Sridhar 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the first round of the ITF Satellite tennis tournament at the NTA Complex here on Tuesday.

The 18-year-old Chennai lad, Prashant looked to have lost his grip when he missed a matchpoint in the tenth game of the second set.

Having lost to Sridhar in their last six meetings, Prashant's confidence was also low and he was almost rebuking himself for having missed a golden opportunity to make a mark and was ready to resign himself to his fate.

However, in the decider, the second year student of Loyola College who trains with coach Hiten Joshi, played his game without any signs of nerves even as Sridhar played a notch below his usual standards.

It was a creditable effort by Prashant as he reeled off five games in a row in the climax to win his first match in the main draw of a professional tournament.

In fact, it was his first match in the main draw for Prashant, as he had failed to progress from the qualifying events in the last three Futures tournaments.

Prashant, who had got used to the conditions here during the inter-State competition recently, will take on another qualifier Dmitri Makeev of Kazakhstan in the pre-quarterfinals.

Vishaal out

In another upset, the strapping Gurmehar Singh, son of the former Indian hockey captain Ajitpal Singh, ousted the fourth-seeded Vishaal Uppal in straight sets, as he played with confidence and dexterity in handling the windy conditions.

In a titanic struggle that lasted three hours and 30 minutes, the Indonesian Davis Cupper Prima Simpatiaji warded off a stiff challenge from the eighth-seeded Jaco Mathew in three thrilling sets. Both the players raised the standard of the game high for a spectacular exhibition.

In another long-drawn encounter, Pathanjali Ravishankar got past qualifier Guillaume Tarralle of France in three sets to set up a clash with the second-seeded Vijay Kannan.

The top-seeded Rohan Bopanna fired big serves and hammered the forehand with authority in blowing away the challenge from David Brewer of Britain for the loss of three games.

He will meet qualifier V. M. Ranjeet in the next round.

The results:

Singles (first round): Rohan Bopanna bt David Brewer (GBR) 6-1, 6-2; V. M. Ranjeet bt Dmitry Ivanov (Uzb) 6-4, 6-2; J. Vishnu Vardhan bt Yannick Nelord 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-2; Stephen Mitchell (RSA) bt Rahil Syed 6-1, 6-1; Vijay Sundar Prashant bt Vinod Sridhar 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Dmitri Makeev (Kaz) bt Carl-Henrik Hansen (Swe) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (retired): Salifu Mohammed (Gha) bt Nitin Kirtane 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Nima Roshan (US) bt Saurav Sukul 6-3, 6-2; Tetsuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) bt Kamala Kannan 6-3, 6-4; Tushar Liberhan bt Yew Ming Si (Mas) 6-0, 6-2; Gurmehar Singh bt Vishaal Uppal 7-6 (3), 7-5; Prima Simpatiaji (IKna) bt Jaco Mathew 6-7 (1), 7-6 (4), 6-3; Hayato Furukawa (Jpn) bt Peter Clarke (Irl) 7-6 (6), 6-1; Pathanjali Ravishankar bt Guillaume Tarralle (Fra) 7-6(5), 6-7(0), 6-3.

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