The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Santoro set to show off his tricks

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 24, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Santoro set to show off his tricks

Nandakumar Marar

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

LOOKING AHEAD: Rohan Bopanna (left), Richard Gasquet and Marcos Baghdatis pose with the kids during the tennis clinic on the eve of the Kingfisher Airlines Open on Sunday.

MUMBAI: Fabrice Santoro, blessed with the game and grace to delight tennis audiences, may be the entertainer the Kingfisher Airlines Open 2007 is looking for. Nicknamed ‘the magician’ by Pete Sampras for versatile shotmaking, this veteran of 18 seasons on the ATP circuit will be tracked by Indian audiences after teaming up with Mahesh Bhupathi in men’s doubles.

The years of toil sit lightly on the shoulders of the Frenchman for whom the sport is both his profession and passion.

“I am old only on the Tour. I feel young, am fresh physically and mentally,” quipped the cheerful 34-year-old, equalling Andre Agassi’s record of 61 Grand Slam appearances at the US Open 2007 and game for more.

Santoro, a pro since 1989, retains a healthy respect for emerging talent. “Players now play equally well in all parts of the court. There is no side which you can target,” observes the Frenchman, a top 75 finisher for an incredible 10th successive year in 2006, credited with four career singles titles out of six final appearances.

He is drawn to face fellow French player Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the singles first round at the top half of the draw, though the doubles combination with Bhupathi may bring out the best in Santoro.

“I have fun with Mahesh. He is one of my closest friends on the Tour,” said the top 10 finisher in ATP Stanford Doubles Rankings, credited with 22 career doubles victories.

Bhupathi, whose company Globosport is organising the ATP event, had partnered Mario Ancic in 2006, winning the doubles title in style. Compared to the Croat, more focused on compiling points and winning matches, Santoro is adept at wooing fans and delighting people.

Sanguinetti stretched

Meanwhile, Akash Wagh, relishing the challenge of raising his game against the big boys, stretched Italian Davide Sanguinetti before the veteran won 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a men’s singles qualifying second round match at the Kingfisher Airlines Open 2007.

The results (singles qualifying): 2nd round: Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) bt Sudanwa Sitaram (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Leos Friedl (Cze) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-4, 6-4; Navdeep Singh (Ind) bt Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) 6-4, 6-4; Rohan Gajjar (Ind) bt Vijay Kannan (Ind) 6-4, 6-1; David Sanguinetti (Ita) bt Akash Wagh (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. First round: Purav Raja (Ind) bt Akash Gujrati (Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Leos Friedl (Cze) bt P.C. Vignesh (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; Tushar Liberian (Ind) bt Gregory Howe (Gbr) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; Yuki Bhambri (Ind) bt Stephen Amritraj (Ind) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Navdeep Singh (Ind) bt Christopher Marquis (Ind) 7-5, 6-4; Rohan Gajjar (Ind) bt Neisbit Vakil (Ind) 6-0, 6-0; Akash Wagh (Ind) bt Vinod Sridhar (Ind) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail