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Tennis
By Kamesh Srinivasan
Prakash Amritraj, who won the final against Febi Widiyanto of Indonesia, exults during their match in the ITF men's Satellite Masters tennis in New Delhi on Friday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan
A sleepy umpire from Egypt made poor calls in the climax, and capped his effort by over-ruling a correct call by the linesman to give a 5-2 advantage for Prakash in the second set tie-break. That was the last straw on the camel's back, and the amiable Indonesian not quite used to questioning calls, had a brief argument with the umpire, but his resistance had been broken. It was a brilliant fightback by the Indonesian after he had lost the first set in a hurry when Prakash ran up a 5-0 lead. Widhiyanto even took a 4-2 lead in the second but was unable to build on the good work, as he got broken in the next game. Prakash broke him in the ninth game at love, with a passing shot following two double-faults by the Indonesian. But Prakash himself was unable to serve out the match in the 10th game. He should have faced two breakpoints initially, but the umpire called it right when Prakash had hit a volley long at 15-30. Prakash struggled in that game and was eventually broken on the fourth breakpoint, as Widhiyanto smacked a backhand return winner. Thereafter, the two held serve easily to force the tie-break. On a surface that was playing slow because of inner moisture, the contest was hotting up when Widhiyanto recovered after being 0-3 down with two sharp volleys, in the tie-break. Prakash was trying to assert himself with an ace to go up 4-2. It was then that the Indonesian got the worst call in the match, after which recovery was tough against an opponent who meant business. Widhiyanto put a backhand volley wide to face three matchpoints and put the next shot out to bring the curtains down on the circuit. Prakash put his arms up in celebration, and after a brief pause let out a huge cry, looking heavenwards, perhaps thanking his stars, through the luminous floodlights for helping him perform a task in such a majestic fashion. "I feel a little tired, but I am happy,'' said Prakash, who changed seven shirts during the course of the match, as the atmosphere had become very humid following a heavy spell of rain that delayed the start of the final by a half hour in the evening. Prakash said that he was happy to have achieved the objective of playing a lot of matches, and observed that he would go back to the US and get ready for the bigger league. The young man who has caught the attention of the tennis fraternity by winning the titles in the second and third legs in Chandigarh and here with authentic display, before he sleep-walked through the Masters event, said that he knew the difference in the levels when he played with the top guys. "I have practised a lot with (Andy) Roddick. It is not that he hits the ball any harder than I do. But at the top level the guys make very few errors,'' said Prakash, who has indeed got a taste of what it feels to compete in the Grand Slams, the Masters series events, the Tour events and the Challengers. With 36 ATP points from the circuit, including a bonus of six, Prakash can hope to push his ranking from 618 to the top 450. That would help him get entries into the Challengers, where he can match wits with players of higher calibre. ``What about Davis Cup?'' Prakash was asked by a TV reporter, and he shot back, "it is a great tournament.'' Laughing out loud, Prakash said on a more serious vein that he would obviously be happy to play for the country if selected. He has indeed made a strong statement with a hat-trick of titles in the Satellite circuit, and it is now for the better ranked Rohan Bopanna and Harsh Mankad, to ensure that they stayed ahead in the race with better deeds on the professional tour. The winner was presented $800 and the runner-up $600. The results (final): Prakash Amritraj bt Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).
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