The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Bopanna starts favourite

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Monday, Mar 31, 2008
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Bopanna starts favourite

Chandigarh: It will be a good chance for Rohan Bopanna to sharpen his game, before the tougher challenges ahead, in the $10,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament to be played at the CLTA Stadium here from Monday. Bopanna, who is seeded No. 1, will use the tournament here as meaningful practice ahead of the Davis Cup tie from April 11 to 13 against a strong Japanese team.

After playing a key role in India’s triumph over the Uzbeks in the Davis Cup tie when he won two of his three matches, Bopanna has played only one singles match on the circuit, in the qualifying event of the ATP Tour event at San Jose. A title here may not mean much, but it will definitely boost Bopanna’s confidence.

He has the game to prevail in a strong field that has Davis Cuppers from the Asian countries. With only two main draw singles matches scheduled for Monday, which will mainly feature the final round of the qualifying event, Bopanna will face local wild card Vijayant Malik in the first round on Tuesday.

If he plays to potential, Bopanna is likely to run into the champion of the last two tournaments in India, Nathan Thompson of the U.S. in the quarterfinals. Equally, it will be a good chance for the rest of the Indians, from Harsh Mankad, Ashutosh Singh, Rohan Gajjar and Vivek Shokeen, to Yuki Bhambri, to stretch the Indian challenge, if not go all the way.

The seedings: 1. Bopanna, 2. Sun Peng (Chn), 3. Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor), 4. Ashutosh , 5. Wang Yu jr. (Chn), 6. Nathan Thompson (U.S.), 7. Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) and 8. Hsin-Han Lee (Tpe). — Special Correspondent

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