The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Phau springs a surprise on Gasquet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 06, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Phau springs a surprise on Gasquet

Kunal Diwan

— Photo: R. Ragu

CLINICAL SHOW:Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi were hardly stretched by their opponents on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Germany's Bjorn Phau upset fourth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet in a topsy-turvy second round encounter late on Wednesday night to enter the quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open.

Gasquet looked a certainty after he won the first set 6-1, and was serving for the match twice in the second when his legendary waywardness kicked in. Phau clawed back from 2-5 down, enforced a tie-breaker, which he won at five. The second set witnessed three breaks apiece for either player.

Phau broke Gasquet again in the third game of the decider, as the former top-10 player flung his racquet in frustration.

The journeyman hung on to his advantage, but couldn't close out the match on serve at 5-4, when Gasquet broke back to enforce another tie-break. That was about all he could do as he went down 4-7.

Easy for Berdych

Earlier, marquee act Tomas Berdych had little trouble making the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-4 debellation of Croatia's Ivan Dodig.

The World No. 6 toyed with Dodig on centre court, realising a second round victory without having to resort to any special playmaking. A difference in ranking of over 80 places was obvious from the start as he raced to 3-0, inclusive of two breaks, in the first set. Dodig, ranked 88, got one back in the fourth game as Berdych double-faulted on breakpoint, but that was the underdog's last wag of the tail.

The 2010 Wimbledon finalist broke Dodig again in the fifth game of the second set and rode it to close out the match in an hour and 27 minutes, the time elapsed a misleading indicator of the competitiveness of the encounter. Berdych however had a different take on the match.

“The result looked easy, but I had to work hard to make it happen,” said the 6'5” winner, who will next meet Slovakia's Blaz Kavcic, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over American Robert Kendrick in the second round.

Bopanna-Qureshi start well

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the second-seeded doubles pairing, finally gave the crowd something to cheer about as they made a winning start to their campaign. The Indo-Pak duo dismissed Marcos Daniel and Eduardo Schwank in straight sets, the basis of the win being the usual tactic of Bopanna's towering serves and Qureshi's nimbleness upfront.

The Asian pair took the first set, hanging on to the solitary break acquired against Daniel's serve in the fourth game. The second set was more of a test, a break-less affair that needed a tie-break for resolution. Bopanna and Qureshi surged ahead 3-0 in the ‘breaker and stayed firm to conclude the match 7-3.

The cross-border alliance thus avoided the fate of the third-seeded pair of Dustin Brown and Rogier Wassen, which lost 1-6, 2-6 to Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram. The fourth seeds, Great Britain's Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, too bowed out of the tournament following a 6-7, 1-6 loss to the Ratiwatana twins, Sanchai and Sonchat, the 2008 Chennai Open champions and Asia's answer to the Bryan brothers.

The results: 2nd round: Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Ivan Dodig (Cro) 6-2, 6-4; Blaz Kavcic (Slo) bt Robert Kendrick (US) 6-2, 6-2; Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt Richard Gasquet (Fra) 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

Doubles: 1st round: Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins (GBR) 7-6(7), 6-1; Scott Lipsky & Rajeev Ram (US) bt Dustin Brown (Ger) & Rogier Wassen (Ned) 6-1, 6-2; Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Marcos Daniel (Bra) & Eduardo Schwank (Arg) 6-3, 7-6(3) .

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport