Brinklow bows to Bopanna

Bopanna won 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 to make progress in the $ 6,250 event drawing cheers from a sizeable gathering.

Tantrums, derogatory remarks, swears and frequent racquet abuse added an unpleasant tinge to the atmosphere — although there were many in the crowd who saw a lighter side to the two hour, 20 minute encounter.

Brinklow, ranked 108, started his campaign on a sound note, coming back from 1-3 down to take the set 6-4. But it was at 4-all second set when the Australian started loosing his grip on the match and subsequently his racquet as his tonguetook over.

The player from Down Under turned vocal as Bopanna staved off four break points to hold serve at this juncture. By contrast, Bopanna could have wrapped the match early but the Indian played too tentatively when it came to the crucial points.

The 19-year-old Bopanna’s temperament held him in good stead as the Pune player levelled set scores by cruising to 7-1 in the second set tie-breaker before clinching the third set and match 6-4.

Nitin Kirtane (828) had no problem in squeezing out Sunil Kumar — the new National hardcourt champion — 6-1, 6-1 in 55 minutes. The Indian Davis Cup reserve Vijay Kannan (826) ousted sixth seed Vinod Sridhar (693) in a marathon three setter 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8) while another wild card Manoj Mahadevan lost to fifth seed Tom Chicoine (USA) 3-6, 1-6.

RESULTS
(seedings in prefix, country, ranking)

Singles (first round): 5-Tom Chicoine (USA, 500) bt Manoj Mahadevan (Ind, 1305) 6-3, 6-1; Vijay Kannan (Ind, 827) bt 6-Vinod Sridhar (Ind, 698)2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10-8); Nitin Kirtane (Ind, 828) bt Sunil Kumar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1; Rohan Bopanna (Ind, 1225) bt Blake Brinklow (Aus, 1028) 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4.

Doubles (first round): 4-Mustafa Ghouse/Vishal Uppal (Ind, 1261) bt Sunil Kumar/Akshay Vishal Rao (Ind) 6-1, 7-6; Prahlad Srinath/Vasudeva Reddy (Ind, 1443) bt Josef Nesticky/Radim Zitko (Cze, 1786) 6-3, 6-1; Saurav Panja/Anand Radhakrishna (Ind, 2208) bt C Mohanty/ Benjamin Zavier (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Vijay Kannan/Manoj Mahadevan (Ind) bt Alok Bhide/Kedar Shah (Ind) 6-3, 7-6; 2-Syed Fazaluddin (Ind)/Niko Karagiannis (Gre, 941) bt Abraham Doug/Harang Lee (USA, 2744) 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Sampras’ hopes end

STUTTGART: Pete Sampras’ hopes of finishing the season as world number one for the seventh time in a row virtually disappeared after he pulled out of the Eurocard Op en. The 28-year-old Wimbledon champion was forced out of the tournament which begins today through a shoulder injury.

His exit cost him 195 ranking points and he now lies 1,100behind Andre Agassi. If top seed Agassi wins in Stuttgart, then the gap between the two would grow far too much for Sampras to realistically make up.

Mauresmo wins

BRATISLAVA (SLOVAKIA): Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France won her first WTA Tour title beating Kim Clijsters of Belgium 6-3, 6-3 in the Eurotel Indoor tennis.