The Hindu : Powerful Prakash dismisses Dooyev

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 13, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Powerful Prakash dismisses Dooyev

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Prakash Amritraj playing a double-fisted backhand return in his match against Israel's Eliran Dooyev at the ITF men's Satellite Circuit in Chandigarh on Thursday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

CHANDIGARH JUNE 12. Have a big game, and you can make some progress. Prakash Amritraj showcased his big game to silence Eliran Dooyev of Israel 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Satellite tennis circuit second leg at the CLTA Complex here on Thursday.

Serving big and stroking with intensity, conserving his energy all the same under the hot and humid conditions, the 19-year-old Prakash put the erratic eighth seed Dooyev in his place.

Obviously, it was no secret that the second-seeded Prakash was tipped to win, as the Israeli had made progress by beating two local wild cards. Prakash quickly made Dooyev feel the difference in the quality of opposition, as he broke him at love in the fourth game.

Prakash himself was serving solid and the Israeli could hardly put racquet to ball in the first set, when the Indian lad conceded a mere three points in all in his four service games.

Prakash served two successive aces to hold serve in the third game, and Dooyev had responded poorly by delivering two double-faults in getting broken in that fourth game of the first set.

That set the tempo, and it was a tough task for Dooyev to recover ground, as his game lacked the momentum. Dooyev got broken in the eighth game in losing the first set, after he had saved four setpoints.

Prakash continued to serve the thunderbolts in the second set, in which he conceded a mere five points in his five service games. In contrast, Dooyev was floating dangerously, as he saved breakpoints in the second and fourth games. He saved two match-points in the tenth game as Prakash made uncharacteristic errors, including a regulation volley that was put long.

Yet, Dooyev was far too inconsistent with his game to stretch the contest any further. He faced his third match-point following a double-fault and brought the curtains down on his feeble challenge with another.

Quite interestingly, Dooyev had only six double-faults in the match, and four of them came in that last game.

Prakash had lost in the semifinals of the first leg, and will now play his second semifinal against Mustafa Ghouse who made a dramatic recovery in the nick of time to beat the fourth-seeded Ajay Ramaswami in three sets. In their last meeting in a Futures tournament in Mumbai recently, Ajay had beaten Mustafa in straight sets.

It was Mustafa who started well as he broke Ajay in the second game. But strong young man was unable to retain the advantage as Ajay broke him in the next game. Thereafter, it was Ajay who served and stroked with conviction in the first set as he broke Mustafa in the seventh and ninth games to wrap up the set.

The story continued in the same fashion into the second set, as Mustafa dropped serve in the second game. It perhaps helped in a way, as Mustafa started playing a lot freely, and better.

Mustafa broke Ajay in the third and seventh games to run up a 5-3 lead.

There was a swing in fortunes as Ajay broke back in the tenth game, and saved a breakpoint in the 11th to stay ahead. Mustafa was game to the challenge by now and held serve to force the tie-break.

In the tie-break, Ajay took a 4-2 lead with a drop volley, but the change of side seemed to tilt the balance, as it was Mustafa who won the next four points as Ajay erred with his returns. Mustafa missed a setpoint but put himself on par with the next as Ajay netted a return.

In the decider, it was Mustafa who played better and broke Ajay decisively in the eighth game. He served out the match without any fuss, hitting a backhand passing shot to clinch the issue. He celebrated with a clenched fist, punching the air. The match lasted two hours and 15 minutes.

Vijay Kannan was the third Indian to make the semifinals, and did so with a lot more authority than the other two. The third-seeded Vijay had weathered some tough matches, albeit in straight sets, earlier, and was prepared to face the challenge from the crafty Vinod Sridhar.

Playing with his usual composure, Vijay raced away with the match, and put the contest beyond his opponent once he clinched the first set.

Vijay will meet the 780th ranked Febi Widhiyanto of Indonesia who stopped the run of qualifier Takesh Itoh of Japan in three sets.

The results:

Singles (quarterfinals): Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) bt Takeshi Itoh (Jpn) 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5); Vijay Kannan bt Vinod Sridhar 6-4, 6-1; Mustafa Ghouse bt Ajay Ramaswami 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3; Prakash Amritraj bt Eliran Dooyev (Isr) 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles (semifinals): Mustafa Ghouse & Vishaal Uppal bt Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) 2-1 (retired);

Doubles (quarterfinals): Stephen Amritraj (U.S.) & Prakash Amritraj bt Manoj Mahadevan & Vijay Kannan 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6); Vishaal Uppal & Mustafa Ghouse bt Yew-Ming Si (Mas) & Jaco Mathew 2-6, 7-5, 6-2; Vijay Kannan & Saurav Panja bt Hendri-Susilo Pramono & Febi Widhiyanto (Ina) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6- 3; Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Kamala Kannan & Vinod Sridhar 6-3, 6-2.

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