Bhupathi bites the dust

The 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 scoreline perhaps helped Srinath to display an unknown facet of his game — playing well under pressure — even as he had some incredible returns on Bhupathi’s serve which not only hassled the Davis Cup star but also prompted him to say, "I have never seen Srinath return so well," Bhupathi praised. The biggest star of the $75,000 Challenger, Leander Paes, was still not out of the woods either, after surrendering the second setto Barry Cowan (Britain) when play was suspended for the day. Watched by his coach Bob Carmichael, Paes won the first set with contempteous ease 6-4, but a poor sixth game in the second game forced him to drop serve and Cowan held on to serve out the set 6-3. And when plays resumes on the morrow, Paes will have to chalk out fresh strategies to shake off the sticky Briton.

However, the highest seed to fall today was the fourth-seeded Czech Petr Luxa who went down to Israel’s Ofer Sela in three sets 7-5, 2-6, 5-7.

If anything, it was Srinath who played a solid baseline game on grass, rushing to the net as rarely as the cool breeze in Vadodara. If the first set was a smooth ride for Bhupathi, the next two sets brought out the best in Srinath. He hardly won points on Bhupathi’s serve in the first set, and in the second after they traded breaks in the second and third games it was Bhupathi who found that he was not getting any rhythm on his game.

Srinath had a chance to break in the eighth game of the thirdset when he three break points. But the big server survived that but then it was Srinath with his backhand returns and his acutely angled crosscourt returns which broke Bhupathi in the 12th to take the match on a forehand return.

RESULTS (First Round)

Singles: Jim Thomas (US) bt Max Mirnyi (btrs) 7-5, 0-6, 6-3; Hose Navarra (Ita) bt Sander Groen (Ned) 6-3, 6-3; Filippo Veglio (Sui) bt Zeljko Krajan (Cro) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; Oleg Ogorodov (Uzbt) bt btenoit Carelli (Fra) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3; Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) bt Thierry Guardiola (Fra) 6-3, 6-4; Ofer Sela (Isr) bt Petr Luxa (Cze) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5; Prahlad Srinath (Ind) bt Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Marcus Hilpert (Ger) bt Harsh Mankad (Ind) 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles: Marcus Hilpert/ David Nainkin (RSA) bt Sandeep Kirtane/ Vishal Uppal 6-3, 6-2; Sander Groen/ Oleg Ogorodov bt Btenoit Carelli/ Anthony Dupius 3-1 (conceded); Oliver Marach/ Tomas Weindofer/ Petr Luxa/ Eyal Ran 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Myles Wakefield/ Wesly Whitehouse bt Zeljko Krajan/ JimThomas 7-6 (5), 6-3; Max Mirnyi/ Peter Tramacchi bt Vijay Kannan/ Rishi Sridhar 6-3, 6-3.