The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vishnu puts out Rastogi

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Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008
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Vishnu puts out Rastogi

KOLKATA: National grasscourt champion J. Vishnu Vardhan knocked out the seventh-seeded Karan Rastogi in the first round of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tournament at the Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy here on Tuesday.

Vishnu Vardhan outclassed Rastogi 6-3, 6-1 to move into the pre-quarterfinals. Vivek Shokeen also moved up easily, beating wildcard and compatriot Vijayant Malik to join three other Indians — Vishnu Vardhan, Rohan Gide and V.M. Ranjeet — in the next round.

The first round saw the exit of a majority of the Indians. Ashutosh Singh, Divij Sharan, Aditya Madkekar and Vijay Kannan — ranked fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth respectively — were among the country’s top-10 who could not match up to the power and aggression of their foreign opponents.

Alcaide, the 21-year-old Spaniard who trains with world No. 2 Rafael Nadal under famous coach Juan Bosch, was the most impressive performer of the day. He produced a great mix of power and timing to end Ashutosh’s challenge 6-2, 6-1 in just 63 minutes.

The results:

Singles (first round): Alexander Satschko (Ger) bt Aditya Madkekar (Ind) 7-5, 6-1; Simeon Ivanov (Bul) bt Chin-Yu Huang (Tpe) 6-0, 6-0; Vivek Shokeen (Ind) bt Vijayant Malik (Ind) 7-6(5), 6-0; Matteo Volante (Ita) bt Divij Sharan (Ind) 6-4, 6-3; Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) bt Tushar Liberhan (Ind) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) bt Karan Rastogi (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Alexey Kedryuk (Kaz) bt Huai-En Chang (Tpe) 6-4, 6-1; Guillermo Alcaide (Esp) bt Ashutosh Singh (Ind) 6-2, 6-1. — Principal Correspondent

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