The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ranjeet lets match slip

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 21, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Ranjeet lets match slip

Kamesh Srinivasan

DEHRADUN: V.M. Ranjeet was unnerved by the sight of victory yet again as he missed two matchpoints and lost 6-3, 6-7(5), 2-6 to Salifu Mohammed of Ghana in the first round of the ONGC-ITF Satellite tennis circuit Masters tournament here on Monday.

Ranjeet was leading 5-2 in the second set, but allowed it to slip and then in the tenth game he was serving at 40-15 when a couple of doublefaults sent him back to square one.

Tough climb

It was a tough climb for the Chennai lad thereafter as Salify attacked with renewed vigour to set up a second round clash with the top-seeded Rohan Bopanna.

It was the second time in the circuit that Ranjeet developed cold feet when he had to drive home the advantage as he had missed five matchpoints in a first round encounter against Navdeep Singh in the third leg in Gurgaon.

It was literally a different ball game, as the heavy Wilson balls received contrasting response from the players who had competed with the light Dunlop balls for the first three weeks.

J. Vishnu Vardhan seemed to enjoy the heavy-duty felt as he served and stroked with energy to overwhelm Nima Roshan of the U.S. in the second set tie-break.

"It is difficult for pushers. I like to finish the point within three rallies, and these balls being quick helped me do so," said Vishnu Vardhan.

The venue proved a happy hunting ground for Tushar Liberhan as he ousted Vijay Kannan in three sets. For someone who had been seeded No.2 in the first two weeks it was tough for Vijay to return home with a mere four ATP points but he was unable to stroke with conviction this day.

Navdeep Singh outwitted Vijay Sundar Prashant in three sets. The later ended up with four ATP points in ensuring his maiden entry into the ATP computer rankings.

Vishaal Uppal played the serve and volley game to perfection in outplaying Hayato Furukawa of Japan.

Ashutosh Singh packed of Briton Richard Irwin in straight sets while Kamala Kannan and Pathanjali Ravishankar got the better of compatriots Jaco Mathew and Shivang Mishra respectively.

The results: Singles (first round): Salifu Mohammed (Gha) bt V.M. Ranjeet 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2; J. Vishnu Vardhan bt Nima Roshan (U.S.) 6-2, 7-6(3); Vishaal Uppal bt Hayato Furukawa (Jpn) 6-1, 6-2; Tushar Liberhan bt Vijay Kannan 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Kamala Kannan bt Jaco Mathew 6-3, 6-4; Navdeep Singh bt Vijay Sundar Prashant 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-5; Ashutosh Singh bt Richard Irwin (GBR) 6-4, 6-4; Pathanjali Ravishankar bt Shivang Mishra 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Shivang Mishra/V.M. Ranjeet bt Hayato Furukawa/Tetsuhiro Yamamoto (Jpn) 3-0 (retired).

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