The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Enev gets past Rastogi

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Saturday, Feb 03, 2007
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Enev gets past Rastogi

NEW DELHI: Todor Enev of Bulgaria proved too smart for Karan Rastogi as he registered a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory in the semifinals of the Oil India $15,000 ITF men's Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

Recovering from a 0-4 deficit, when he won a mere five points in the four games, the third-seeded Rastogi tried to put up a fight, but failed to step up his game to stop the talented Bulgarian.

While Enev, the champion last week on clay in Kolkata, played the key games with authority, Rastogi tended to flounder and looked to be trying too hard to make an impression.

After admirably bouncing back from an indifferent start, Rastogi dropped serve at love in the ninth game, following two double faults, and that proved decisive as Enev was serving quite well.

In the second set, Rastogi wrested the initiative with a break in the second game, but dropped serve in the next, though it has to be conceded that he got a bad call on the first point in that game. Rastogi did break again in the sixth game, after dropping serve at love in the fifth, to take the set into the tie-break. However, he did not have the energy in his legs to match the Bulgarian, who himself was dragging his tired legs, albeit with a strong will.

Enev will be challenged by Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia who overpowered the fifth-seeded Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea for the loss of just four games.

The Russian combined nicely with Alexei Kedriouk of Kazakhstan to clinch the doubles title at the expense of National champions, Purav Raja and Sandeep Kirtane. It was the second successive doubles title on the Indian tour for the powerful Russian-Kazakh combination.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) 6-0, 6-4; Todor Enev (Bul) bt Karan Rastogi 6-4, 7-6(3).

Doubles (final): Alexei Kedriouk (Kaz) & Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Sandeep Kirtane & Purav Raja 6-4, 6-2. — Special Correspondent

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