LP/MB/NS/Indian-Tennis:
Notes for the weeks ending on May 31, 2004
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May 31 Note-1
Karan Rastogi's patchy clay season (actually patchy year ever since the
great start at the Australian Open) continued today, as the 5th ranked 12th
seed was upset by the 78th ranked Martin Fisher of Austria at the French Open juniors in a back and
forth match where Karan wasted a whole bucketfull of opportunities in the
3rd set aftera great comeback in the second set .. Here is a match
report based on the online scoreboard and stats update -
Karan had a double break pt in the first game and converted the first
chance itself to go up 1-0. Helped by an ace, he went up to 2-0 soon
.. After a couple of deuces, Fisher held serve in the 3rd game. Now KR started
having first serve troubles and was facing two break pts at 15-40.
He saved them both, but got broken after a deuce .. 2-2 .. A double fault
caused a BP again in the 5th game. Saved one, but yet another uinforced
error saw his drop serve again .. 2-4 .. Now Martin Fischer seemed to be
getting into full flow as he won 7 of the next 8 points and forced triple
set points at 2-5 on Karan. Once again Karan saved all of the break
points for deuce, and then saved a 4th set point at AD out too, but then
dropped the set.
In the 3rd game of the second set, Karan went up ahead, with the help of
a couple of winners and a couple of unforced errors from Fischer. With the
DF count mounting from the Austrrian and Karan started hitting more winners,
it was 3-1 and KR again broke him in the 5th game to go ahead 4-1 .. At 5-1,
Karan wasted three chances from triple set point, but converted a fourth
set point to even it up at one set apiece.
He started kept the foot on the pedal to start the 3rd set .. Served his
second ace, to hold serve at love and then had Fischer down at 0-40 again.
A couple of unforced errors from Karan helped Fischer to save the BPs and
hold serve though. Now it was a key juncture again for Karan and he had to
keep his mind in the game .. But alas, just like that he was down 0-40 on
serve and was suddenly in trouble at 1-2 .. He lost Eight points straight
three of them in a row at the net, based on the stats. Karan really needs
to do something about his tendency to lose points in a bundle at times -
he does snap out of it but against better player it is suicidal. Anyhway,
as expected, he quickly had Fischer down at 0-40 again and he got the break
right back to 2-2 .. That did not last much longer either, as KR dropped
serve yet again after saving a couple of BPs (one with an ace) .. 2-3 though
.. Then, for the second time in the set, Karan wasted triple break chances
on Martin. He held serve to go 4-2 as Karan went 1 of 7 in break chances
in the set. Then at 3-4, Karan had yet another break chance at 30-40
and that too went unused. Losing 7 chances in a row is a killer.
Martin held serve to ghho up 5-3. Now KR started with a double fault,
having invited all the pressure on himself. He faced a match point
at 30-40 but an unforced error from the Austrian boy gave him a reprieve.
Another UE from Karan saw him face a second match pt but he again saved it
with a point at the net. On a 3rd match point, Martin hit a winner
and Karan was upset.
The match took 94 minutes .. 3 aces and 4 DFs by Karan .. no aces and 4 DFs
by MF .. 6/17 in break points by MF and 5 of 16 by Karan (1 of 8 in the 3rd,
which was really the key stat of the match that caused the loss) .. This
was an extremely rare case of the loser having more points in a match - KR
woin 79 to 78 by Martin.
Tushar is right now playing the 10th seed Woong-Sun Jun .. Mahesh's doubles QF has also started.
May 30 Note-2
Scores from the FO on Sunday -
[R3] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) d. Mario Ancic (CRO)/Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 62 62
[R1] Divij Sharan (IND,31) l. Miles Kasiri (GBR,36) 16 26
[R1] (12) Karan Rastogi (IND,5) d. (WC) Jonathan Dasnieres (FRA,194) 63 67(1) 63
[R1] Tushar Liberhan (IND,35) d. Jamie Murray (GBR,40) 62 46 64
Tomorrow's matches:
[QF] (3) Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/ Max Mirnyi (BLR) vs Karsten Braasch (GER)/ Sargis Sargsian (ARM)
[R2] (6) Martina Navratilova (USA) / Leander Paes (IND) vs. Angelique Widjaja (INA) / Lucas Arnold (ARG)
[R2] (12) Karan Rastogi (IND,5) vs Martin Fischer (AUT,78)
[R2] Tushar Liberhan (IND,35) vs. (10) Woong-Sun Jun (KOR,9)
On Sania's clay title at Campobasso, Italy - this was her 3rd title from
4 finals at the $10K level .. She has only played six such events during
the past year .. Actually she has played only 10 pro events, the other being
the two WTA events in Hyderabad and Casablanca, the Mumbai challenger and
qualies for a challenger in Atlanta .. It is quite a commendable performance
for her to still reach a career high rank (soon) at about 370 or so .. With
this title and 10 points (4 bonus), she has raised her point total to 49.75
just behind Rushmi at the #2 spot in India by next week .. Rushmi picked
up 7 points for her Lucknow title and will go up to 50.25 points by my calculation
.. Both of them will go ahead of the current #1 Isha Lakhani with 48 points
.. It's a pity that Isha hasn't been able to play in a long time - due to
injury I presume.
May 30 Note-1
Quick updates .. Sania won the $10K in Campobasso Italy with 63 64 win
over Magda Mihalache - the first clay title in Europe by an Indian that any
of us can remember .. MB-MM advanced to the QF with an easy win at the French
Open .. LP-Martina had reached the MxD second round yesterday with an easy
win too .. Karan and Tushar advanced in the junior singles but Divij fell
.. Prakash Amritraj is drawn to face a qualifier in the Tallahassee challenger
where the main draw starts Tuesday .. Most scores are in the forum pages.
More later.
May 29 Note-2
Terrible day .. Now, top seeds Mahesh and Likhovtseva have got upset
in mixed doubles also, to add to our misery .. 57 36 to Els Callens and Sebastien
Prieto ..
But great news from Campobasso, Italy, where Sania jumped all over and bludgeoned
her opponent to death in 35 minutes .. 62 62 semifinal win over Petra Russeger
(AUT,413) .. Will find out later whom she will play in the final .. Go
Girl Go !!! .. We needed some good news from somewhere and it came right
on time.
May 29 Note-1
Ahg, upsetting loss to report .. {R2] (10) L.Paes/ D.Rikl l. Juan-Ignacio
Chela (ARG)/ Gaston Gaudio (ARG), 62 46 62 .. Now LP loses a lot of
points from the semifinal last year at FO and is under some serious pressure
to pick up points and keep a good rank .. I only followed the 3rd set,
and saw that Rikl dropped serve both times, in games 3 and 7, and they could
not convert the one break chance they had in the 6th game ..
Mahesh and Elena Likhovtseva have started their first round Mixed doubles match against Els Callens and Sebastien Prieto.
In other news, Rushmi Chakravarthi won a double crown at the Lucknow grasscourt
$10K .. The singles title came after a barn-burner of a match with a 10-8
3rd set tiebreaker over Ankita Bhambri, who played very well in beating experienced
Sai yesterday and doing so well against Rushmi on a surface she was reportedly
not too comfortable on. Rushmi and Ankita beat Archana and Sai easily
in the doubles final.
Karan and Chu-Huan Yi beat Tushar and Divij in the final at the Astrid Bowl grade-1 - Tushar Liberhan and Divij Sharan had reached the final upsetting the top seeds in the semi yesterday ..
Sania's semifinal opponent was decided only this morning .. Petra Russeger
won a match that was postponed from yesterday .. The SF is scheduled for
the evening.
May 28 Notes
Some serious struggle today for MadMax, but they moved on to the 3rd round after a tough comeback, at the French Open .. [R2] (3) M.Bhupathi/ M.Mirnyi d. Krol Kucera (SVK)/ Tood Perry (AUS), 46 76(2) 64
.. The next round opponents are yet to be determined, but it would be either
the 15th seeds Knowle-Zimonjic or the Croatian pair, Ancic-Lubicic ..
If Sonia G can win in India, Sania M can win it Italy too! .. 17 year old
Sania Mirza (IND,415) scalped another seed today at the $10K ITF women circuit
event at the small town Campbasso in South Italy in the less-developed Molise
region that very few tourists ever go to .. Sania seems to like the red dirt
out there .. She upset the 5th seed Leticia Sobral (BRA,356), 64 57 63 in
the first match of the day .. Her next round opponent will be either Emily
Stellato (ITA,492) or Petra Russegier (AUT,417) who were to play in the afternoon
today .. With the 4 points so far (two of them quality points) she will move
back into the top-400 again.
May 27 Notes
Mahesh also advanced to the second round, as expected, at the French Open yesterday ..
Sorry for the late update - [R1] (3) M.Bhupathi/ M.Mirnyi d. Sebastien De Chaunac (FRA)/ Stephane Robert (FRA), 61 64
.. Easy match - they were hardly troubled by the French guys .. They play
the second round against Karol Kucera (SVK) and Todd Perry (AUS) tomorrow
at 11 am.
The big news today is from Sania Mirza, who reached the QF of the
$10K in Campobasso, Italy, upsetting the second seed Salome Devidze (GEO,262)
64 60 .. A pretty good shellacking actually, looking at that scoreline ..
So, one again Sania has pulled off a big win on clay - where, rather unexpectedly,
some of her biggest wins have come this year .. She now runs into the highest
ranked player remaining in the field (after 6 seeds have fallen by the wayside),
the 5th seed Leticia Sobral (BRA,358) .. Go Sania, Go!
At the Lucknow $10K, the old(er) guard, who have much more experience on
grass courts, have done well reaching the semifinals - as alll the remaining
players in the singles semis and doubles are all Indian .. Rushmi, Sai, Archana
and Ankita are the semifinalists .. Ankita, the only teenager in that group,
was in a serious spot of bother against Liza pereira, even dropping seven
games in a row at one point, but she won in three sets.
Megha Vakharia went down to Cindy Watson (AUS) 16 16 yesterday at the Houston
$10K .. Mustafa Ghouser reached yet another doubles final, playing with Aisam
Qureshi at the Saudi F2 $15K+H .. They beat the 4th seeds Florin Mergea and
Horia Tecau (ROM), 76(1) 46 61 and face the 4th seeds Sebastien Fitz (GER)
and Karim Mamoun (EGY) in the final.
At the grade-1 ITF Astrid Bowl juniors in Belgium, the 2nd seeds Karan Rastogi
and Chu-Huan Yi had an impressive 61 61 win over Viktor Troicki (SCG)/ Mehdi
Ziadi (MAR) .. 6th seeds Divij Sharan and Tushar Liberhan reached the semifinal
with an upset of the 4th seeds Rafael Arevalo (ESA) and Vahid Mirzadeh (USA)
61 36 62 .. If they can upset the top seeds Woong Sun Jun and Sun Yong Kim
of Korea, they will face Karan-Yi in the final.
May 26 Notes
Leander and David started of fine at the French Open with a routiune win
today .. [R1] (10) Leander Paes (IND)/ David Rikl (CZE) vs Juan Ignacio Carrasco
(ESP)/ Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP), 62 64 .. Rikl faced a couple of break
points in the 3rd game of the match and LP saved one break point on his serve
in the 5th game of the second set, but otherwise they were not troubled at
all .. Broke Carrasco in the 4th and 8th game to take the first set .. The
second set went with serve till the 10th game of the second set when our
guys suddenly stepped on it to get triple break points and closed it out
off when Hidalgo served ..
Their second round opponenta are yet to be determined .. Lee-Rikl could run
into the tough 6th seeds Santoro-Llodra in the 3rd round itself. So,
it's not an easy draw for them.
Mad Max plays an evening match soon .. They are in the bottom half of the
draw, and so an LP-vs-MB match is possible only in the final .. They got
a pretty easy draw all the way to semifinals, with 8th seeds Damm-Suk, 12th
seed Palmer-Vizner, etc in their quarter.
At the $10K ITF clay event in Campobasso, Italy, #418 Sania Mirza reached
the second round yesterday with an easy 64 60 win over wildcard Alexia Virgilli
(ITA,980) .. Tough second round for SM against the second seed Salome Davidze
(GEO,262) .. I think the match in on thursday .. Sania, with a high doubles
rank, is not wasting energy on doubles there, which is a good idea.
Megha Vakharia, ranked
#421, is the 8th seed at the $10K in Houston and she was drawn to play #440
Cindy Watson (AUS) in the first round .. Megs and Natalia Dziamidzenka are
seeded 2nd in doubles and play Jodi Noyer (USA) and Cindy Watson (AUS) in
the first round.
At the Lucknow $10K ITF event, Sonal Phadke was upset today, 76(5) 46
16 by Nudnida Luangnam (THA), but the other top Indians advanced, with top
seed Rushmi, 2nd seed Ankita, Sai, Liza and Archana reaching the QF.
Mustafa Ghouse won the first round at thethe $15K+H Saudi Arabia F2,
62 64 over Nick Crawley (GBR,726), but he fell today against the 8th seed
Phillip Marx (GER,667) .. In doubles, Mustafa and Aisam Qureshi (PAK) are
in a semifinal against the 3rd seeded Romanian pair, Florin Mergea and Horia
Tecau, after beating qualifiers Tom Bender (USA)/ Chris Freyss (FRA), 62
61 and then Haitham Abid (TUN)/ Malek Jaziri (TUN), 63 67(5) 62 in the QF ..
Karan Rastogi is still not breaking out of his little slump in singles, though
he has played a few good matches .. After a first round bye, he went down
today at the grade-1 Astrid Bowl in Charleroi, Belgium, to qualifier Erik
Chvojka (CAN,105), 62 67(4) 36 .. Earlier #31 Divij Sharan was upset 26 61
62 by Andre Miele (BRA,59) and #35 Tushar Liberhan had an uncharacteristic
outing in a bad 06 06 loss to Miles Kasiri (GER,36) .. All three are alove
in doubles .. Karan and Chu-Huan Yi (TPE), seeded 2nd, had a bye and then
beat Scoville Jenkins (USA) and Michael Samara (USA), 67(1) 64 63 and got
a QF walkove .. Divij and Tushar are seeded 6th, also with an R1 bye .. They
beat a good pair, Scoot Oudsema (USA) and Michael Shabaz (USA), 64 62, to
reach the QF ..
In other news, Sunitha Rao (USA) has reached the singles semifinal of the
$25K Seoul Challenger! .. Good to see her do well again.
May 25 Notes
At the French Open, Mahesh and Max are seeded 3rd and face the French
pair, Sebastien DeChaunac and Stephane Roberts in the first round .. Leander
and David are seeded 10th and face the Spanish pair, Juan Ignacio Carrasco
and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo .. Both are relatively easy matches for our pair
.. They both play tomorrow (wednesday) .. I still have not seen the full
draw .. Sania has reached the R2 at an Italian $10K ITF .. They have finished the first round at the Lucknow $10K for
women - no surprises .. Tushar went down in the ITF grade-1 Astrid Bowl R1
.. More new, scores and details later today ..
May 24 Notes
The French Open doubles draw is awaited in a day or two, for LP and MB.
With the great show at the Fregana challenger, the Indian contingent raised
their rankings this week .. Prakash has moved up to #231, Mankad to #334
and Sunil Kumar to #415 .. In doubles rankings, after Bhupathi at #5 and Paes
at #19, it is Mankad at #172, Ghouse at #214, Amritraj at #328 and
Bopanna at #334 ..
At the $15K+H Saudi Arabia F2, Mustafa Ghouse plays Nick Crawley (GBR,726)
in the first round .. Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi has gone from Fergana to Saudi
and he is playing doubles with Mustafa this week, as the top seeds - they play Tom
Bender (USA) and Christophe Freyss (FRA) in the first round.
Rohan Bopanna was playing
a prize money invitational in Dubai last week .. He won the event with some good wins - the
final was a 64 61 shellacking of ATP #386 Alexey Kedriouk (KAZ) against ..
Looks like Bofors is in good form .. He was originally in the Soudi futures
list for this week but has withdrawn .. He is now listed to play the Kuwait $15K
next week, which seems to have quite a weak field of players - he should
be able to grab some good points and bring his rank back up in the next couple
of weeks in Kuwait ..
The women's ITF $10K has started at Lucknow on the Avadh Gymkhana .. Rushmi,
Ankita, Sonal, Sai, Suzanne Aigner (AUT), Liza and Iciri are the seeds in
that order .. Not too much of foreign participation there; about 7 players
from abroad .. (6) Liza Pereira vs
Sheetal Gautham and (3) Sonal Phadke vs Geeta Manohar are probably among
the few competitive first round matches, but it will get interesting in the
later rounds .. I think today's matches were mostly only in doubles .. Interestingly,
Sai and Rushmi, long-term partners, are playing with others this week ..
Rushmi has teamed up with Ankita and Sai with Archana .. Rushmi-Ankita are
the top seeds, and they look like a team with soem potential .. No upsets
in doubles today .. I will start a page and post the scores soon.
At the grade-1 ITF "Astrid
Bowl" in Belgium, Divij Sharan (IND,31) went down in the R1 to Andre Miele
(BRA,59) 62 16 26 .. Also in the field are Tushar Liberhan (IND,35) who plays
Miles Kasiri (GBR,36) and Karan Rastogi who has a first round bye ..
Late scores from last week, as Karan finished runner up at the grade-A Italian
Open, the biggest result in his doubles career so far (Congrats, Karan!)
.. In the semifinal, Karan and Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) won an impressive barnburner
over the 7th seeds Sergei Bubka and Mihail Zverev, 6-7(8) 7-6(2) 13-11, and
they then fell 26 46 in the final to the best junior doubles team in the
world right now, Brendan Evans and Scott Oudsema of USA who had won the Australian
Open and are unbetaen in 15 matches together this year .. Karan is
now ranked #5 in the combined singles-doubles rank in the juniors.
.. Previous notes are at
Notes for
the week ending on May 24 ..
I am getting some inquiries from US college coaches who are interested
in Indian junior players .. I would like to be able to contact Indian
players (some of the coaches are inquiring about specific names) .. If
any of the junior players are reading this, please contact me .. Or if
any of the other readers know the contact emails/address for any junior
player, let me know .. I would like to have a mailing list where I can
post general announcements and inquiries from the coaches too .. Please
email me - R.Jayakrishnan.