The Hindu : Harsh makes last four

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Harsh makes last four

By Kalyan Ashok

Photo: K. Gopinathan

Second seeded Gregory Carraz of France, who beat Peter Wessels (Ned) in the quarterfinals, stretches for a backhand return at the Indian Oil Servo-ATP Challenger-2003, in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore April 24. Harsh Mankad's dream run continued in the $25,000 ATP Challenger championship at the KSLTA courts here today with the 23-year-old Davis Cupper storming into his maiden semifinals at this level, with a dramatic 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 victory over qualifier Fred Hemmes Jr. of the Netherlands in a seesaw battle that lasted nearly 160 minutes.

At the end, it was a very satisfying moment for the 461-ranked Harsh who vindicated his self-belief that he can really perform on a Challenger stage.

Harsh did go into the quarterfinal clash against Hemmes, ranked 304, in the right frame of mind. He has been playing well in the past three days and Hemmes, who had come through a tough qualifying phase, did look jaded. Harsh was able to hustle him around and played some great angles, stretching his rival.

The going was so good in the first set that Harsh looked almost unstoppable, but suddenly he seemed to lose focus and started struggling with his returns. The set began on a good note for Harsh as Hemmes dropped the serve in the very first game, slamming forehand return out. The second game saw Harsh being stretched to four deuces, before the Indian grabbed the advantage forcing Hemmes to play forehand wide and netting a return.

The Dutchman's woes continued in the third game also, which he dropped with quite a few mishits. Harsh whipped up a 4-0 lead effortlessly, holding the serve in the fourth game. The set looked all but over, but Hemmes refused to give up and began a calculated counter assault with his strong returns. He stepped up pace, striking hard on both flanks and held serve in the fifth and broke Harsh in the sixth. That vital break set him on the road to recovery.

Harsh simply seemed to get nothing right at this stage as Hemmes chipped away at his lead and squared it at five all with yet another break in the tenth game. The set quickly slipped into tiebreaker mode and Hemmes seemed to hold all aces. Harsh kept hitting his deep ones out and his cause was further marred by a double fault and Hemmes closed the set at 7-3, a reassuring margin indeed.

Harsh was sure rocked by that grand revival, but he came strongly in the second set and gained a quick breakthrough with Hemmes, who developed problems with his first serve, dropping the second game with a double fault. Harsh cut the pace and once again re-asserted control to dominate the set which he shut at 6-3.

With the match tied at set all, and a scorching sun taking its toll, Hemmes looked vulnerable once again in the decider. Harsh broke him in the third game and the Dutchman found himself under huge pressure and made a lot of unforced errors. With his nerves on the edge, he flung his racket in frustration. He made one last stand when he hung on grimly to save his serve in the fifth game after five deuces, but the show now really belonged to Harsh who stroked freely and was well on way to a memorable win.

An elated Harsh later said: "I am happy to be in the semifinals, a prospects which I really didn't think of at the outset of the tournament. May be I should have won this one in straight sets, playing little more aggressively in the first set when I had him down. But full credit to Hemmes for the way he levelled after trailing 0-4. The semifinals should be tough and Carraz is a very stylish player with good serve and volley and I will give it my best shot."

The second seed, Gregory Carraz of France, ranked 151, playing solidly against an erratic qualifier, Peter Wessels of the Netherlands, cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory in just under an hour. The French man truly dictated the pace with his fluent stroke play.

The fourth seed, Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland also raced to an easy 6-3,6-1 win over Louis Vosloo of South Africa.

The eighth seed, Gilles Elseneer of Belgium, completed the quarterfinal line up with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win over Yves Allegro of Switzerland.

The Wild Card pair, Rohan Bopanna and Prakash Amritraj made the doubles semifinals the easy way with their third seeded rivals, Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Fred Hemmes Jr. conceding a walkover, as the Israeli player was indisposed.

Gregory Carraz made his second semifinals of the day partnering Rodolphe Cadart. The French pair defeated the No.2 seeds, Yuri Schukin and Dmitry Vlasov of Russia 6-3, 6-4.

The singles semifinals will start at 3 p.m. on Friday and Doordarshan will telecast the ties.

The results (Indians unless specified, prefix indicate seeding): Singles quarterfinals: Harsh Mankad bt Fred Hemmes Jr. (Ned) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3; 2-Gregory Carraz (Fra) bt Peter Wessels (Ned) 6-2, 6-3; 4-Ivo Heuberger (Swi) bt Louis Vosloo (RSA) 6-3, 6-1; 8-Gilles Elesneer (Bel) bt Yves Allegro (Swi) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Semifinal line up: Harsh Mankad vs. Gregory Carraz; Gilles Elseneer vs. Ivo Heuberger.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Prakash Amritraj & Rohan Bopanna w/o 3-Jonathan Erlich & Fred Hemmes Jr; Gregory Carraz & Rodolphe Cadart (Fra) bt 2-Yuri Schukin & Dmitry Vlasov (Rus) 6-3, 6-4; Noam Okum (Isr) & Arvind Parmar (GBR) bt Dell'Acqua Massimo & Federico Luzzi (Ita) 6-3, 6-4.

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