Fazal goes down fighting

JAIPUR, DEC 7: It was a dismal second day for Indians in the Bikaji Rajasthan Golden Jubilee ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here on Tues...

JAIPUR, DEC 7: It was a dismal second day for Indians in the Bikaji Rajasthan Golden Jubilee ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament here on Tuesday. Wild card Sunil Kumar bowed out to third seed Tuomas Ketola; Rohan Bopanna was no match for top seed Paradorn Srichaphan as was local wild card Jagdish Tanwar against Japanese Takahiro Terachi.

Davis Cupper Syed Fazaluddin played a determined match against last week8217;s runner-up Jamie Delgado but missed vital chances to lose also finish on the losing side 8212; 4-6, 6-3, 2-6.

Fazal had his chances. In the first set he had seven break points, none of which he converted. In the second, he broke the Briton in the fourth game and capitalised on the break to win the set with a couple of superb backhand passes. But in the decider, he missed a couple of crucial points in the fourth game, in which he was broken. Up 40-15 he first didn8217;t attempt to reach a volley. On the next point, he misjudged an overhead. The game went to deuce and he was never the same after that.

In the Srichaphan-Bopanna match, the Indian held on with some good serves in the early part of the match. Once Srichaphan got used to the low bounce of the grass, Bopanna could do nothing. While the good part of the Pune-based Coorgi is that he goes into the match without fear of his opponent, the bad part is that he doesn8217;t think of going for anything that requires much effort. He was just blown apart by the Thai in the second set.

Srichaphan, who won 7-5, 6-1, said the only reason for his taking time to get through with the first set was because he was unused to the bounce. It is very low. I had a little problem with my first serve, but soon adjusted,8221; he said.

Tanwar went into the match against Terachi in full stam. He had nothing to lose and quickly surprised the Japanese by winning the first three games. Terachi soon came to grips with the situation and won the next three games. Tanwar then held before Terachi finished the set.

In the second set, the Japanese had Tanwar running all over A nonchalant Terachi won 6-4, 6-3.

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The match wich made one think was Sunil8217;s match with Ketola. Though he lost 3-6, 1-6 and never looked like he was going to pull off a stunner, Sunil again put on a very competent display against a player who is ranked 166.

RESULTS3-Tuomas Ketola Finland bt Sunil Kumar India 6-3, 6-1; 4-Jamie Delgado Great Britain bt Syed Fazaluddin India 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Ivo Karlovic Croatia bt Kristian Pless Denmark 4-5, 7-6 8-6, 6-3; 1-Paradorn Srichaphan Thailand bt Rohan Bopanna India 7-5, 6-1; 2-Mose Navarra Italy bt Peter Schuster Germany 6-4, 6-2; 6-Takahiro Terachi Japan bt Jagdish Tanwar India 6-4, 6-3