The Hindu : Bopanna enters final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Bopanna enters final

By Nandakumar Marar

MUMBAI MARCH 21 Rohan Bopanna allowed himself to be stretched to three sets by a qualifier before conquering frustration and Jonathan Marray on Friday. The fifth seeded Indian won 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 for an appointed place in the Mumbai leg singles final of the International Tennis Federation's Men's Futures, but the road to progress was more difficult than expected. The Briton proved to be a tough nut to crack, undeterred by thunderbolt aces and showing enough volleying skills to trouble better opposition.

India's solitary entry in the men's final of this $15,000 event, in fact the only seed among four semifinalists, eventually banked on acknowledged serving ability to remain a few steps ahead of rapidly-improving rival. Bopanna served eight aces, against four by Marray who creditably managed to take a game off the Indian, winning the 12th (7-5) in the second to force the decider.

Later in a men's doubles final played under floodlights, India's Harsh Mankad and Vishal Uppal, teaming up for the first time, defeated a Dutch-German combination of Jasper Smit/Daniel Lesske 6-2, 7-5 in under 70 minutes. The winning pair earned 18 ATP points and split $ 945, while the runner-ups' share was 12 pts, $ 495 respectively. Mankad-Uppal had earlier thwarted Britons Marray/David Sherwood in the semifinals, while another Indian combination of Vijay Kannan/Ajay Ramaswami bowed out to the Dutch-German duo.

Bopanna started off the blocks in style, a break up before his bemused opponent, troubled by doublefaults later on. The Indian Davis Cupper set the tone with a stunning backhand crosscourt winner, mixing a few lobs to confound Marray before pocketing the first set with another break. The Briton looked a beaten man, pitted against a rival exhibiting very positive body language and bounce around court.

The Indian began attacking his rival's second serve in the second set besides the usual sprinkling of aces, games went with serves till the sixth when Marray made watchers sit up by inching towards breakpoint. It was the first time Bopanna's ability was questioned, leading to a typical ferocious response in form of two aces to soften up the Briton.

The seventh game turned out to be more interesting, Marray winning four points on serve to inch ahead 4-3. The next service break happened in the 12th, Bopanna again at the wrong end when trailing 0-40 before losing the game and set. The fifth seed corrected course in the decider, walloping the ball with a vengeance. The gutsy qualifier had been put in place, beaten into submission by sheer firepower, but not disgraced.

Bopanna takes on another eager qualifier in Saturday's final, Zbnek Mlynarik (Austria) getting the better of unseeded David Sherwood (Great Britain) 6-4, 7-5 for a place opposite the rampaging Indian at the G.A.Ranade Tennis Centre. The Mumbai leg is organised and sponsored by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association.

The results (Indians unless specified):

Men's singles semifinals: 5-Rohan Bopanna bt Jonathan Marray 6-2, 5-7, 6-2; Zbnek Mlynarik (Aut) bt David Sherwood (Gbr) 6-4, 7-5.

Men's doubles final: Harsh Mankad/Vishal Uppal bt J.Marray/D.Sherwood (Gbr) 6-2, 7-5. Semifinals: H.Mankad/V. Uppal bt J.Marray/D.Sherwood (Gbr) 6-3, 6-2; Jasper Smit (Hol)/Daniel Lesske (Ger) bt Vijay Kannan/Ajay Ramaswami 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4.

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