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Schuettler overcomes Amritraj

Nandita Sridhar

Erroneous Marin Cilic gets past Alberto Martin

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

WINNING START: Marin Cilic brushed aside the challenge from Alberto Martin to get his new season off to a good start at the Chennai Open on Monday.

Chennai: Rainer Schuettler and Prakash Amritraj resolutely fed off each other’s lapses in a patchy first round encounter of the Chennai Open ATP tennis championships at the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium on Monday. Schuettler prevailed 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, but not before Prakash caused a strategic combustion of the German’s passive aggressive tactics in the second set.

The routine inaugural ceremony and the tournament’s opening match was followed by Schuettler and Prakash’s poker faced entrances in dissipated autorickshaws, deceptively creating a mood of serious combat.

In reality, Schuettler watched as Prakash’s serves floundered and his approaches backfired in the first set, after which the German passively allowed Prakash to sneak in a comeback in the second.

Credit should be given to both for piling further misery on the other, but the day’s feature match lacked engaging rallies and interwoven contests.

Uneventful

The first five games were uneventful, with the serve holding fort on both ends. Schuettler managed a break in the sixth, allowing Prakash a vantage view of clean, elementary passing.

The German kept it simple, pegged Prakash back and utilised his half-hearted approaches to good effect.

The Indian produced an exceptional comeback in the second, even if Schuettler’s returns collapsed. The first serves were effective and the use of the slice to buy time and position himself to volley effectively, worked well.

Schuettler succumbed and failed in counter-strategically taking control. Prakash failed to close out some tight points in the third for Schuettler to regain focus and manage the crucial break in the decider.

Prakash was disappointed, but gathered positives from the match. “The beginning of the third set was tough. The scoreline can be deceptive. Things were pretty tight in the third. He played a good last game and I guess the rustiness showed in my game upfront.

“I was winning more in the summer last year and didn’t get as many matches as I would have liked in the fall. This is the year’s first tournament, but I do have some positives from the match. The first serve percentage was good and my forehand much better,” said Prakash.

“He played more aggressive in the second than first. I was too defensive in the second and my returns didn’t work. He went for his shots and played well. I was a lot more aggressive in the third,” said Schuettler.

Sporadically fiesty

Marin Cilic’s erroneous display was enough to get past a sporadically feisty Alberto Martin in the first round 6-4, 6-4. The third seeded Cilic’s game lacked the firepower it could’ve possesed, and the rustiness showed.

Martin stretched him occasionally but gave it too much when judiciousness was called for. Martin saved a matchpoint in the ninth game, but couldn’t repeat it in the next. Cilic closed it out with little damage.

Rohan Bopanna came out on top after a tough match against German Michael Berrer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final qualifying round. Bopanna managed a break in the eighth game of the second set after losing the first.

The third set was closely contested, with breaks exchanged in the first two games and the fourth and fifth. He managed a break again in the ninth before closing it out in his service game.

The 28-year-old qualified for the main draw for the second time, his previous effort in 2006 earning him a berth as well. Sandeep Kirtane (1996) and Harsh Mankad (2000) were the other Indians to have qualified for the main draw.

Earlier the tournament was inaugurated by Christodas Gandhi, Secretary, Youth Welfare and Sports, Tamil Nadu government.

The results:

Singles: First round: 3-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Alberto Martin (Esp) 6-4, 6-4; Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; Dudi Sela (Isr) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Esp) 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1; Lukas Dlouhy (Cze) bt Go Soeda (Jpn) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt Santiago Ventura (Esp) 6-2, 7-5; Simon Greul (Ger) bt Daniel Gimeno (Esp) 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: First round: Scott Lipsky (USA) & David Martin (USA) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Flavio Cipolla (Ita) 7-6(9), 6-3; Oliver Marach (Aut) & Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Pablo Andujar (Esp) & Carlos Moya (Esp) 3-6, 6-3, 10-4; Eric Butorac (USA) & Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Yuki Bhambri (Ind) & Harsh Mankad (Ind) 6-1,6-2.

Final qualifying round: Rohan Bopanna (Ind) bt Michael Berrer (Ger) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3; Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt Alex Satschko (Ger) 6-3, 6-1; Danai Udomchoke (Tha) bt Kyu Tae Im 7-6 (5), 6-1.

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