An escape to victory

I am looking forward to the India-Pakistan clash. Well, I'm talking about my quarterfinal match against Pakistan's Aseim Qureshi tomorrow...

I am looking forward to the India-Pakistan clash. Well, I’m talking about my quarterfinal match against Pakistan’s Aseim Qureshi tomorrow. Sure, I was lucky to get through against Swede Patrick Fredriksson in three sets in the pre-quarter finals.

But I think, Hesh’ (Bhupathi) had a comfortable match when compared to his first round match. He played a solid game and was able to wrap it up against Aussie Peter Tramacchi in straight sets. Hesh’ played a great match. He pocketed the match in the first set tie-breaker when he went up 5-1.The difference for him today was the serve. Tramacchi was playing a little too much to Hesh’s backhand and failed to exploit much of Hesh’s weakness.As for me, Swede Patrick Fredriksson let me off the hook. I was down a set and a break in the second set. Things turned around for me when I started playing to his forehand. Earlier, I was keeping the returns to his backhand. Fortunately for me, his forehand cracked.

Not only that. During the first two sets I kept coming in andhe passed me repeatedly. His returns were just unbelievable. As I said yesterday, he came out with guns blazing. He hitting returns with a lot of power which put me in all sorts of trouble. For a set and a half he had answers to whatever I threw at him. In the first set tie-breaker, I was up 4-1 and again 5-3 but served a double fault.

After I got the break back in the sixth game of the second, I knew I had him. He gave me a second chance and I accepted it.

In the third set, I decided to stay back and I began to hit the returns much slower and did not give him any pace on his returns. It was not to his liking. That upset his rhythm and I came in more after approaches to his backhand. I could have won 6-0 and gave away three match points and took it on the fourth.

Physically, I’m feeling a bit sore. So is my heel. In fact, it has been a long day for me what with spending close to three hours on court.