The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sanam, Shokeen in semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 16, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sanam, Shokeen in semifinals

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI: Sanam Singh and Vivek Shokeen kept the Indian hopes alive as they ousted the top-seeded Matthew Smith of Britain and the seventh-seeded Frank Moser of Germany in the quarterfinals of the BSNL $10,000 ITF Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

The 17-year-old Sanam was all class and poise as he served and stroked with punch and precision in outplaying the 304th ranked Smith, albeit just for a set. The Briton could not digest it any longer and retired after losing the first set 2-6. Sanam had broken the Briton in the third and seventh games, eventually winding up the first set that lasted 28 minutes with an ace.

It was the second time an opponent was unable to face the heat for long as Sanam's first round rival Punna Vishal had retired midway through the second set. The Chandigarh lad, who sports a strong band to protect the right wrist that had been troubling him in the recent past, will be challenging the fluent-stroking fourth seed, Michal Przysiezny of Poland in his maiden semifinals at this level.

Cruising along

The 18-year-old Vivek Shokeen, who has a strong build much in contrast to the diminutive frame of Sanam, played a purposeful game in outwitting the finalist of the last week, Frank Moser of Germany in three sets.

After clinching the first set, Vivek was unable to capitalise on the chances in the second set in which he got broken in the seventh and ninth games. However, in the third set, Vivek broke Moser in the fourth game and saved a breakpoint in the seventh to consolidate on the advantage. Eventually, Vivek served out, converting his second matchpoint as Moser hit a backhand into the net, in the ninth game.

Vivek will be up against qualifier Radoslav Nijaki of Poland, who tamed the champion of the Chandigarh event, the third-seeded Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan in a thrilling three-setter.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Singles (quarterfinals): Sanam Singh bt Matthew Smith (GBR) 6-2 (retd.); Michal Przysiezny (Pol) bt Jae-Sung An (Kor) 6-3, 6-3; Radoslav Nijaki (Pol) bt Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Vivek Shokeen bt Frank Moser (Ger) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Pathanjali Ravishankar & Vinod Sridhar bt Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) & Marcio Torres (Bra) 6-3, 6-2; Vijay Kannan & Ashutosh Singh bt Frank Moser (Ger) & Vishaal Uppal 6-4, 6-4.

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