Sunday, Jun 15, 2003
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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Prakash Amritraj, who won the ITF men's Satellite Circuit tennis tournament in Chandigarh on Saturday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
For the 19-year-old Prakash it was his maiden title in the professional circuit in his maiden final at this level and he was quite pleased with the accomplishment. There was no doubt that the second-seeded Prakash had the edge, but there was a hope that the third-seeded Vijay would put up a better fare as he had played well all week. Prakash served and stroked with such fluency that it was difficult for an erratic Vijay to stretch the contest beyond an hour and 10 minutes. He had dropped serve only once all week, to Mustafa Ghouse in the semifinal, and Prakash continued with his consistency of serve that formed the base. He saved two breakpoints that he had faced following a double-fault in the seventh game, and there was no doubt thereafter that it was a matter of time before Prakash brought the curtains down on the feeble challenge of Vijay. Vijay enjoyed a marginally better first serve percentage of 56.6 to Prakash's 54.7, but the latter had such good second deliveries that he was never in much trouble. As usual, Prakash was quite stingy in conceding points on his serve, and allowed only nine points in all on his serve to Vijay in his eight service games. A commendable effort indeed. In contrast, Vijay's serve did not stand scrutiny. Prakash broke Vijay in the fourth game of the first set, and in the third, fifth and seventh games of the second to make it a straightforward affair. There was not anything explosive about Prakash's game, as he had only four aces and 15 winners. But the best part of his game was his sharpness at the net as he made nine volley winners. Vijay did come up with one passing shot, and once surprised Prakash at the net by catching him square on his back when the latter turned, trying to guess one side. But over all his game lacked the sting to bail him out of trouble. Vijay served five aces, including two in the last game, but generally was far too erratic, committing 39 mistakes to his nine winners. ``I have beaten top 100 players in bigger tournaments, but this gives me a lot of satisfaction, as I have played a good tournament. This was by far the best match I had played in the whole week,'' said Prakash, quite pleased to be on the right track towards gaining maximum ATP points from the circuit. He had lost in the semifinals last week. ``I started strongly and stayed strong throughout. The balls were light and the court was fast. I had to get adjusted to it, and I am happy with the serve and volley game,'' said Prakash. The biggest plus point was that Prakash never allowed any mental let up and stayed focused in every single match, through the tournament. It was not a surprise that he dropped only 25 games in all in five singles matches. Prakash had known Vijay over many years and was prepared to handle him, though he had lost to him in the semifinals of the doubles. ``Vijay fights till the last point. Very crafty. He may not be hitting hard like others, but massages the ball and can suddenly surprise with a hard hit. He tried a little too hard to pass me and made the mistakes,'' summed up Prakash as he praised his opponent. Prakash collected $812.50 for his effort, while Vijay had to be content with a purse of $562.50. It was the second defeat in a Satellite final for Vijay, following the one to Vishaal Uppal in the Masters event last year in Bangalore. Being a diligent student of the game, Vijay would gather the points and try to come back stronger, in the rest of the circuit. On his part, Prakash said that he was ready for the challenge in the rest of the Satellite circuit, and was, in fact, looking forward to it. The next leg and the Masters will be played in Delhi from Monday. The results (final): Prakash Amritraj bt Vijay Kannan 6-3, 6-1.
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