The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vishnuvardhan wins title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 28, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Vishnuvardhan wins title

HYDERABAD: The big-serving J. Vishnuvardhan came good just when it mattered to down a fighting P.C. Vignesh 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the men’s singles final of the Lanco Infratech-sponsored Nawab Moin-ud-Dowla State-ranking prize money tennis tournament at Secunderabad Club here on Sunday.

In the final played on newly-laid synthetic courts, there was very little to choose between the two finalists in the beginning. With each holding on to his serves the scores were tied five-all at one stage before Vishnuvardhan came up with some big serves in crunch time. Despite Vignesh executing some delectable cross-court forehand returns he just failed to stop his training partner (both are trainees of C. V. Nagaraj’s School of Power Academy) from clinching the first set after a 65-minute battle.

And, if Vishnuvardhan thought it would be a much easier outing in the second set, he was surprised not only by the tenacity of Vignesh but the latter’s stunning ability to essay some impressive ground-strokes. Every time he engaged the athletically-built Vishnuvardhan in baseline duels, Vignesh picked a point with his amazing accuracy in placing his cross-court returns. Vishnuvardhan, the national champion, was visibly stunned by the regularity with which his opponent came up with big points in the second set and not surprisingly lost it at 4-6 after another 40 minutes of play.

In the decider, it was Vishnuvardhan who came up with some big deep serves including an ace even as Vignesh’s game fell apart — missing some simple overhead smashes and easy forehand winners at the net. He suddenly looked out of sorts and looked physically and mentally tired. This was understandable since Vignesh earlier played in the men’s doubles final too. And on the other hand, Vishnuvardhan demonstrated why he belongs to a different category with a high quality game in the 25-minute final set to clinch the issue and a cash prize of Rs. 30,000, the highest-ever for any local tennis tournament in the city.

Earlier in the men’s doubles final, P. C. Vignesh combined well with Suresh Krishna to down Galada Shail and Manchit Madan 6-1, 6-4 to win the title.

Emerging talent in girls’ section from the City, Zainab Ali Sajjad proved a point or two with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Surya Tejaswini in the girls under-14 final.

Pranjala moves up

Y. Pranjala defeated Sakshi Yadav 8-0 in the girls under-10 pre-quarter-final of the GHMC annual Open tennis tournament at Indira Park Tennis Complex here.

The results:

Girls: Under-10: Pre-quarterfinals: Y. Pranjala bt Sakshi Yadav 8-0; S. Raveena Reddy bt G. Sravya 8-1; M. Srinija bt Mary Peter 8-7(4); S. Nidhi bt S. P. Sowmya 8-5; Saranya Nagpal bt P. Srivani Rao 8-2; C. Nikitha bt Hanisha Vasi Reddy 8-7(2); G. Sruja Kirti bt K. S. Mohita 8-0.

Boys: Under-10: First round: T. Sri Akhil bt Ch. Jaidev Sai 8-5; Abhijity Jaiswal bt B. Sri Ram 8-6; Joseph V. Raj bt A. Krishna Teja 8-6; K. Ajay bt V. Ugandhar Reddy 8-4; B. Vaishnav bt M. Rohit 8-1; Joshua bt Naveen Singh 8-1; V. Arvind Reddy bt Shreyas Verma 8-5; Anurag Kumar bt Anshul Jain 8-1; V.V.S. Rahul bt G. Nitin 8-1.

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

Sport