The Hindu : Prakash takes the wind out of Vinod's sails

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Prakash takes the wind out of Vinod's sails

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Vijay Kannan makes a forehand return on way to victory over Takeshi Itoh of Japan in the quarterfinals of the ITF men's Satellite Circuit at the DLTA Courts in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI JUNE 19. Prakash Amritraj took the wind out of Vinod Sridhar's sails on way to a 7-5, 6-2 triumph in the quarterfinals of the GAIL ITF Satellite tennis circuit third leg at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

Playing an all-round game, relying as much on craft as power, the 19-year-old Prakash broke the resistance of Vinod a lot earlier than expected. In a battle of wits, it was Prakash's self-confidence that prevailed, even as Vinod exposed his vulnerability at 5-5, getting broken rather tamely with a flurry of errors, most of which were self inflicted.

That was a good enough opening for Prakash, who was otherwise quite ready for the long rallies and a tough battle, to gain a stranglehold over the proceedings.

Prakash not only clinched the set in the next game, as he served out with ease, but also ran up a 3-0 lead in the second set, breaking the serve of a dispirited Vinod twice.

Mixing his attacking style with a strong defence, Prakash played admirably and showed a keen sense of anticipation and the willingness to get to everything that was thrown on his side.

Serving big and volleying crisply, Prakash called the shots. Prakash revealed his agility as he tackled a net-chord situation like a champion. He made a return drop diagonally to catch Vinod off-guard. That point in the 12th game of the first set, highlighted the complete game of Prakash, and his readiness to tackle any situation.

Prakash did slacken the momentum a bit, as he got broken, a rare experience for him, in the fourth game. However, he was right back, converting the third breakpoint in the fifth game to take a 4-1 lead. Thereafter, Vinod could not escape the clutches of defeat, and resigned himself to his fate.

Prakash conceded only 17 points in all in his ten service games in the whole match. Except for dropping serve once, he did not face any problem in holding serve through the contest. He will play Vijay Kannan in a repeat of the second leg final played in Chandigarh last week.

Vijay started well, by patiently working up his rhythm and accelerated smoothly with big serves and searing passing shots to overpower Takeshi Itoh of Japan 6-3, 6-1.

After an initial exchange of breaks, Vijay saved a breakpoint and fired three of his nine aces in the match to take a 3-2 lead. He broke Itoh in the next game, and cruised through with his service games to take the set.

In the second, Vijay broke Itoh in the third, fifth and seventh games to make it a tame affair. The Japanese did tease Vijay with his retrieving skill, but the wiry Indian was ready for the challenge. Vijay saved three breakpoints in the sixth game of the second set, when he fired four aces in the game, to ensure that he did not lose the momentum.

Vijay, who finished the match in style with a backhand crosscourt passing shot, will try to put up a better fare against Prakash, than what he had managed to dish out in Chandigarh last Saturday.

Incidentally, the finalists of the first leg, Daniel Kiernan of Britain and Prima Simpatiaji of Indonesia will be meeting in the other semifinal.

The second-seeded Kiernan quelled the aspirations of the seventh-seeded Febi Widhiyanto of Indonesia for the loss of four games, while the athletic Simpatiaji was equally ruthless in dismissing qualifier Brian Hung of Hong Kong, who had stumbled ahead this far at the expense of his compatriots.

In the doubles semifinals, third-seeded Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar beat the champions of the second leg, top-seeded Vijay Kannan and Saurav Panja 6-4, 6-4.

In the other match, Prakash Amritraj and Stephen Amritraj subdued second-seeded Daniel Kiernan of Britain and Ajay Ramaswami in three sets.

Manoj and Rishi had lost in a third set tie-break to the Amritraj cousins last week, and would be looking to set the record straight.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Prakash Amritraj bt Vinod Sridhar 7-5, 6-2; Vijay Kannan bt Takeshi Itoh (Jpn) 6-3, 6-1; Prima Simpatiaji (Ina) bt Brian Hung (Hkg) 6-3, 6-1; Daniel Kiernan (GBR) bt Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): Manoj Mahadevan/Rishi Sridhar bt Vijay Kannan/Saurav Panja 6-4, 6-4; Stephen Amritraj (US)/Prakash Amritraj bt Daniel Kiernan (GBR)/Ajay Ramaswami 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

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