The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rohan Bopanna suffers setback

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Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Rohan Bopanna suffers setback

Principal Correspondent

Bopanna won in doubles
Rastogi, Mankad lose

NEW DELHI: Rohan Bopanna’s quest to earn crucial ATP points to get into the Australian Open qualifying tournament came to a grinding halt as the Indian lost despite raising hopes by winning the first set against the second-seeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn in the ONGC $50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament here on Tuesday.

Bopanna fired nine aces against four by Kunitsyn, but double faults crept into his game in the second set before the Russian pulled himself out of the muddle and won 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Indian will get his chance again, when the SAIL $50,000 ATP Challenger gets underway at the DLTA Complex here next week.

But Bopanna, who later in the day began his doubles campaign in style in company of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, will rue that Kunitsyn later withdrew from the tournament citing personal reasons. Korea’s Jae Sung An, hence, moved into the quarterfinals through walkover.

Good start

The way Bopanna began on Tuesday, it seemed the Indian was in his fine form. After opening first, Bopanna had little difficulty in holding on to his service game. Kunitsyn also showed no weakness before Bopanna broke him at love in the eighth game. The Indian then served out the first set without breaking a sweat.

The Russian, however, returned strongly winning the first game of the second set at love. Bopanna was unfazed though. He sent down the line returns that stranded Kunitsyn in the third game before Bopanna opened up 3-1 lead. But Kunitsyn shot back in the 10th game when Bopanna, despite firing two aces, double faulted at game point to lose the initiative. The game went into deuce thrice before Kunitsyn broke Bopanna to level 5-5.

Kunitsyn then held his serve before stretching Bopanna into deuce in the 12th game before winning it 7-5. In the decider, Kunitsyn needed just one break, which came in the eighth game, to wrap up the match.

The remaining Indians in the fray, Karan Rastogi and wildcard Harsh Mankad, also fizzled out in the first round as they lost tamely to their higher-rated opponents.

Playing against Wesley Moodie, the seventh seed, Rastogi was broken twice in the first set and once in the second as the South African won 6-3, 6-3. Mankad, who made a comeback after an injury-forced layoff, lost to Alberto Francis of the United States, 7-5, 6-2.

The results (first round): Singles: Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Ivan Sergeyev (Ukr) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Rik de Voest (Rsa) bt Kamil Capkovic (Svk) 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(9); Adrian Cruciat (Rou) bt Tomas Cakl (Cze) 6-4, 7-5; Xin-Yuan Yu (Chn) bt Franko Skugor (Cro) 6-4, 6-7(1), 7-6(5); Martin Slanar (Aut) bt Joshua Goodall (Gbr) 6-3, 7-6(6); Wesley Moodie (Rsa) bt Karan Rastogi 6-3, 6-3; Alberto Francis (USA) bt Harsh Mankad 7-5, 6-2; Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) bt Rohan Bopanna 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles: de Voest & Moodie bt Divij Sharan & Navdeep Singh 6-4, 7-6(3); Cakl & Ivo Minar (Cze) bt Purav Raja & Sunil Kumar Sipaeya 4-6, 6-4, 10-5; Pavel Chekhov (Rus) & Michail Elgin (Rus) bt Goodall & Frank Moser (Ger) 6-3, 7-5; Benjamin Balleret (Mon) & Sebastien de Chaunac (Fra) bt Capkovic and Dekel Valtzer (Isr) 6-3, 6-4; Patrick Briaud (USA) & Mustafa Ghouse 6-1, 6-4; Cruciat & Adrian Menendez (Esp) bt Vijay Kannan & Vivek Shokeen 6-2, 6-3; Bopanna & Qureshi bt Stephen Amritraj & Cecil Mamit (Phi) 6-2, 6-4.

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