The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Bezeruk-Aqeel final

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Saturday, Aug 12, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Bezeruk-Aqeel final

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Yuri Bezeruk of Australia fought his way past a wily Vijay Kannan 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in the semifinals of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit first leg at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

In a nerve-wracking contest, fourth-seeded Bezeruk rode on his better physical fitness and an indomitable fighting spirit to pip the 26-year-old Vijay at the post.

After three hours and 19 minutes of gripping action, it was the Australian who got it right in both the tie-breaks, as he ran up 5-2 leads in both.

Vijay had 14 aces to his opponent's nine, and had only three doublefaults in all.

Vijay constructed the points nicely throughout the match and fought hard till the end though it was clear that the reserves of energy was running dry.

Bezeruk will take on Aqeel Khan of Pakistan, who handles the conditions pretty smartly and wins quite a handful of matches in the sub-continent. Aqeel was in a spot of bother against Aditya Madkekar, but the Mumbaikar let go a chance to take a 4-2 lead in the second set by failing to put away an overhead and surrendered meekly thereafter in his 6-2, 7-5 defeat.

Both Vijay and Madkekar had to be content with 10 circuit points and $300 each.

In an all-Indian doubles final, the second seeds Mustafa Ghouse and Pathanjali Ravishankar prevailed over the fourth seeds Divij Sharan and Navdeep Singh in three sets. The doubles winner collected 15 circuit points and shared $393.75 while the runner-up won 10 circuit points and split $206.25.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 7-5; Yuri Bezeruk (Aus) bt Vijay Kannan 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5).

Doubles (final): Mustafa Ghouse and Pathanjali Ravishankar bt Divij Sharan and Navdeep Singh 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

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