The Hindu : Sport : Vishnu Vardhan is National champion

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Sunday, Dec 23, 2007
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Sport

Vishnu Vardhan is National champion

S. Sabanayakan

Rushmi Chakravarthi takes women’s title for the second time

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

The Nation’s best: The seasoned Rushmi Chakravarthi and first-time champion J. Vishnu Vardhan with their trophies.

KOLKATA: For one who had played only one grasscourt tournament before this, winning the nationals is indeed a great achievement. J. Vishnu Vardhan of Andhra Pradesh quelled the challenge of Divij Sharan of Delhi, beating him 6-3, 6-4 in 126 minutes, in a rather unspectacular men’s singles final at the South Club courts here on Saturday.

Partnering Vinod Sridhar of Tamil Nadu, the Hyderabad player added the doubles title as well, beating the Tamil Nadu pair of N. Sriram Balaji and V.M. Ranjeeth 6-2, 7-6(7).

Vishal Uppal of Delhi was the last man to achieve this double, in 2005 Nationals at Delhi.

Ladies’ top seed Rushmi Chakravarthi of Tamil Nadu had no problem in taking the crown for the second time with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over eighth seed Shalini Sahoo of Delhi.

Vardhan, a Tamil born and brought up in Hyderabad, had lost to Rohan Bopanna in the semifinals of the 2005 National grasscourt championship — the last time he played.

“I cannot say I like playing on grass but if you notice, I’ve lost only once so far. I suppose my record is pretty decent on grass,” he said after winning the men’s singles. “I am really happy to win on the court here which has seen so many legends perform. Winning the National title on this court is a dream come true for me.”

Solid plan

Taking on Sharan, a proven serve-and-volleyer, Vardhan needed a solid plan to tackle the Delhi player’s fluent game.

“I decided not to allow Sharan the luxury of serve and volley because he is so good at the net,” the winner said. “To counter him, I decided to serve hard, regardless of whether it is the first or second serve.”

To make things easier for the left-handed sixth seed, Sharan’s first serve completely deserted him and his second delivery, more of slice serve, did not pose much of a problem to Vardhan, who produced some splendid returns.

“I like to serve well and come to net and attack my opponent,” said Sharan. “When I failed to get my first serves in, I was under pressure.”

While admitting the first set was of very poor quality, Sharan said both raised their game a little higher to produce a better second set.

The first set had 15 double faults — seven by Sharan and eight by Vardhan — and four foot-faults by Vardhan and innumerable errors. Vardhan broke Sharan in the first, fifth and eighth and lost serve himself in the second. The set ended in 65 minutes with Sharan double faulting.

Better set

The second, which lasted 61 minutes, saw much better fare, with both holding serve till the seventh game. Vardhan’s powerful serve and solid groundstrokes gave him the edge. The 20-year-old backed it up with athleticism, and played the crucial points better. Two passing shots — a forehand crosscourt and a backhand down the line — helped him break Sharan in the eighth game. Though Sharan broke back in the ninth, Vardhan clinched the issue in the 10th, with a superb down the line forehand.

Having been broken in the second game and trailing Shalini 3-0 in the ladies’ final, Rushmi roared back to break the Delhi girl’s service in the fifth, seventh and ninth games to take the set 6-3. Rushmi was broken in the first game in the second set. Shalini’s success ended there as the top seed found her bearing to break the young challenger in the fourth and sixth games to win it 6-3 in 87 minutes.

The results (prefix denotes seeding): Final: Men’s singles: 6- J. Vishnu Vardhan (AP) bt 4-Divij Sharan (Dli) 6-3, 6-4. Doubles: 3-Vardhan (AP) & Vinod Sridhar (TN) bt 4-N. Sriram Balaji & V.M. Ranjeeth (TN) 6-2, 7-6 (9/7). Women’s singles: 1- Rushmi Chakravarthi (TN) bt 8-Shalini Sahoo (Dli) 6-3, 6-3.