The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Divij tames Aqeel for semifinal spot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 25, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Divij tames Aqeel for semifinal spot

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Divij Sharan recovered from the brink of defeat to outwit top seed Aqeel Khan of Pakistan 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit third leg at the DLTA Complex on Thursday.

Aqeel, the 26-year-old Davis Cupper, who had stretched Leander Paes to five sets in the last Cup encounter at Mumbai, was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but Divij put up a gritty performance to turn the tables.

In the decider, Divij reeled off six games on the trot after the Pakistani had held serve in the first game.

There was some drama in the end as Aqeel fought hard to save four matchpoints, but Divij did not lose his grip and forced the Pakistani to put his forehand wide on the fifth matchpoint.

For someone who had won only one main draw match in the first two legs, this was a huge boost for the local left-hander, but considering Divij's fighting spirit, it came as no surprise.

Ashutosh advances

In comparison, it was indeed a shock for Aqeel, who had lost only one of the previous 12 matches in the circuit. He had won ten of them against Indian opponents, on way to winning one title from two finals.

In the semifinals, Divij will take on Delhi lad Ashutosh Singh.

The latter, flaunting a fluent all-round game and brimming with confidence, outplayed Aditya Madkekar for the loss of just four games.

Vijay Kannan was the other Indian to make the semifinals. He humbled Vishnu Vardhan after some initial resistance from the Hyderabad lad.

Former Asian junior champion Tai-Wei Liu of Chinese Taipei proved too good for the third Delhi boy, Yannick Nelord, who did a commendable job of adding six circuit points to his paltry collection of two.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Divij Sharan bt Aqeel Khan (Pak) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1; Ashutosh Singh bt Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 6-2; Vijay Kannan bt Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(4), 6-3; Tai-Wei Liu (Tpe) bt Yannick Nelord 6-3, 6-2. Doubles (semifinals): Mustafa Ghouse and Pathanjali Ravishankar bt Sandeep Kirtane and Purav Raja 6-1, 6-4; Ashutosh Singh and Vijay Kannan bt Divij Sharan and Navdeep Singh 6-2, 7-6(3).

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