The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Double delight for Navdeep Singh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Double delight for Navdeep Singh

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Former National junior champion Navdeep Singh celebrated his birthday in style by knocking out third-seeded Philipp Mullner of Austria 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 in the first round of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit first leg at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

The 1049th ranked Navdeep — who needed a wild card to gain entry in the tough field — has been working hard in recent weeks to fine-tune his game and sported a mature attitude in conquering the 476th ranked Mullner.

On a day when the talented Sanam Singh and the strapping Vivek Shokeen bit the dust in straight sets, it was a morale-boosting effort from Navdeep, who will next meet Jacob Melskens of Denmark.

In other matches, J. Vishnu Vardhan capitalised on a lucky turn as he beat lucky-loser Dmitri Makeyev of Kazakhstan who replaced the fifth-seeded American Brian Wilson.

Fourth-seeded Vishaal Uppal emphasised his resolve as he outplayed Adam Fass of the U.S., while Vijay Kannan and Divij Sharan also booked their berth in the second round.

In the only doubles match of the day, Navdeep in partnership with Tushar Liberhan entered the quarterfinals.

The duo advanced with a win over the French pair of Philippe de Bonnevie and Julien Maes 6-0, 6-2.

Thus, it was a doubly delightful day for Navdeep Singh.

The results:

Singles (first round): Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) bt Manuel Jorquera (Ita) 6-3, 7-6(4); Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) bt Sanam Singh 6-3, 7-6(6); Federico Torres (Ita) bt Dusan Mihailovic (Scg) 6-4, 6-4; J. Vishnu Vardhan bt Dmitri Makeyev (Kaz) 6-3, 6-7(10), 6-3; Vishaal Uppal bt Adam Fass (U.S.) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; Yuri Bezeruk (Aus) bt Arindam Datta 6-2, 6-3; Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) bt Murad Inoyatov (Uzb) 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-3; Julien Maes (Fra) bt Kamala Kannan 6-2, 6-3; Vijay Kannan bt Pathanjali Ravishankar 6-4, 6-1; Jacob Melskens (Den) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-2, 6-4; Navdeep Singh bt Philipp Mullner (Aut) 6-1, 5-7, 6-1; Myles Blake (U.K.) bt Vahid Mirzadeh (U.S.) 6-4, 6-1; Divij Sharan bt Hiroki Kondo (Jpn) 7-6(6), 7-6(5); Herbert Wiltschnig (Aut) bt Guillaume Canniccion (Fra) 6-2, 7-5.

Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Tushar Liberhan and Navdeep Singh bt Philippe de Bonnevie and Julien Maes (Fra) 6-0, 6-2.

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