The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Navdeep advances

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 08, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Navdeep advances

Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI: He was unnerved by the sight of victory against a quality opponent, but not the second time. Navdeep Singh fought with spirit and showed strength of character in getting past fourth-seeded Julien Maes of France 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 in the first round of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit third leg at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Navdeep could have wound up the contest in straight sets but for showing signs of nerves and losing track at 30-15 when he was serving for the match at 6-5 in the second set.

The bout of nerves was understandable, as the young man with a big game and an equally big heart for a fight, had lost to Maes twice in the current circuit, winning a mere 10 games in those two outings.

Of course, Navdeep was improving with every outing and was brimming with confidence after making it to the quarterfinals in the second week. Thus, he was able to bounce back in the third set and wind up with authority.

Vinod Sridhar moves up

Navdeep will meet Vinod Sridhar who saved two matchpoints in the eighth game of the second set in putting it across a fighting Purav Raja, who had led 6-2, 4-1 before losing his way.

Pathanjali Ravishankar recovered after a sedate start to outplay qualifier Sebastian Louis of France. Vijay Kannan was the other Indian to progress into the second round as he beat wild card Arindam Datta for the loss of two games.

Vivek Shokeen messed up a golden chance after leading 5-1 in the second set, in bowing out to fellow qualifier Guillaume Canniccioni of France. J. Vishnu Vardhan also squandered a good start and lost to Patrick Tierro of Philippines in three sets.

The results (first round): Herbert Wiltschnig (Aut) bt Jacob Melskens (Den) 6-4, 6-2; Guillaume Canniccioni (Fra) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-1; Vijay Kannan bt Arindam Datta 6-0, 6-2; Manuel Jorquera (Ita) bt Dusan Mihailovic (SCG) 6-1, 6-1; Patrick Tierro (Phi) bt J. Vishnu Vardhan 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) bt Ashutosh Singh 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Federico Torresi (Ita) bt Adam Fass 7-6 (1), 6-3; Vinod Sridhar bt Purav Raja 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Navdeep Singh bt Julien Maes (Fra) 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3; Yuri Bezeruk (Aus) bt Vishaal Uppal 6-3, 6-3; Pathanjali Ravishankar bt Sebastian Louis (Fra) 7-5, 6-1; Patrick Gamauf (Aut) bt Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-4; Sarvar Ikramov (Uzb) bt Philipp Mullner (Aut) 6-2, 7-5.

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