The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Fazaluddin, Mankad in quarterfinals

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Thursday, Dec 20, 2007
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Fazaluddin, Mankad in quarterfinals

Amitabha Das Sharma

The women’s draw sees no notable upset as top seeds Rushmi and Phadke advance

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

STILL GOT IT: Syed Fazaluddin, who in now pursuing a banking career in the US, showed no sign of rustiness from his five years off competitive tennis.

KOLKATA: Syed Fazaluddin reaffirmed his proficiency on grass, progressing to the quarterfinals of the Indian Oil Servo National grass court tournament here on Wednesday. Coming after a prolonged absence from competitive tennis, the former champion proved his touch plucking out third seeded Aditya Madkekar in the process.

The men’s singles pre-quarterfinal matches at the South Club underscored the dominance of the seniors as another come-back man, Harsh Mankad toppled fifth-seeded Vivek Shokeen to move up into the last eight. The rest of the men’s matches did not see upsets.

Top-seeded Karan Rastogi did not have to exert much in quelling the challenge of Rohan Gajjar. Second seeded Ashutosh Singh encountered some problems with consistency but managed to hold it together for a 6-0, 7-6(5) win against unseeded Arjun Goutham of Karnataka.

Fourth seeded Divij Sharan also had a comfortable match disposing off seasoned Kamala Kannan in straight sets.

Enjoying his holidays

Fazaluddin, who had distanced himself from competitive tennis for around five years, seemed to be enjoying his holiday at his home city.

Working as banker in Houston, the 33-year-old former champion surprised all with a high level of performance against a 22-year-old opponent. Madkekar, who is ranked sixth in the country, appeared to be uneasy against the punch and placements that Fazaluddin packed in his shots. The local favourite drew early advantage winning the opening set as he broke the third seed in the eighth game while holding his own serve. Fazaludding fired six aces in the first set.

Madkekar won the second set making most of the repeated unforced errors by Fazaluddin. But the former champion seemed to have reserved the best for the final set. Regaining the touch that made him dominate the first set, Fazaluddin broke Madkekar in the second and fourth games to line himself up for the biggest upset of the tournament so far.

Harsh Mankad displayed another fine essay of power and accuracy while waltzing past Shokeen. The former Davis Cupper, while placing his returns at brilliants angles, also had a tidy serve. On the other hand, the tall and athletic Shokeen blundered with his main weapon, the serve, to give away the advantage.

Mankad, who is showing good form in the tournament, will take on the top-seeded Rastogi in the quarterfinals. Falzaluddin meets the unseeded V.M. Ranjeet of Tamil Nadu while Ashutosh takes on sixth seeded J. Vishnu Vardhan of Andhra Pradesh.

In the women’s section holder and top seeded Rushmi Chakravorthi of Tamil Nadu faced little trouble in getting past qualifier and statemate Shahin Ansari. Second seeded Sonal Phadke of Maharashtra too had a smooth sailing, beating local wildcard Dipti Srivastava in straight sets. Poojashree Venkatesh of Karnataka proved her merit on grass beating fifth-seeded Sweta Kumari Solanki of Delhi.

The results (prefix denotes seeding): Pre-Quarterfinals: Men: 1-Karan Rastogi (Mah) bt Rohan Gajar (Mah) 6-3, 6-2; Harsh Mankad (Mah) bt 5-Vivek Shokeen (Dli) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Divij Sharan (Dli) bt Kamala Kannan (TN) 6-2, 6-4; 7-Vinod Sridhar (TN) bt Sriram Balaji (TN) 6-4, 7-6(4); V.M. Ranjeet (TN) bt Manoj Kumar Sewa (Ben) 6-3, 6-4; Syed Fazaluddin (Ben) bt 3-Aditya Madkekar (Kar) 6-4, 6-2; 6-J. Vishnu Vardhan (AP) bt Rahil Makharia (Mah) 6-4, 6-2; 2-Ashutosh Singh (Dli) bt Arjun Goutham (Kar) 6-0, 7-6(5). Women: 1-Rushmi Chakravorthi (TN) bt Shahin Ansari (TN) 6-1, 6-0; 7-Rashmi Teltumbde (Mah) bt Geeta Manohar (AP) 7-5, 7-6(4); 3-Asha Nandakumar (Kar) bt Gunuganti Janaki (AP) 6-2, 6-1; Poojashree Venkatesh (Kar) bt 5-Sweta Kumari Solanki (Dli) 6-1, 6-1; 6-Ragini Vimal (Ben) bt Anushree Thamanna (Kar) 6-1, 6-1; Treta Bhattacharyya (Ben) bt Smita Rani Jain (IAF) 6-2, 6-1; 8-Shalini Sahoo (Dli) bt Anukriti Prasad (Dli) 6-0, 6-0; 2-Sonal Phadke (Mah) bt Dipti Srivastava (WB) 6-3, 6-1.

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