Hesh shaping up well

Feb 4 : I am quite happy with the way `Hesh' (Bhupathi) has shaped up in singles. Despite the fact that it has been a one-off week like t...

Feb 4 : I am quite happy with the way `Hesh’ (Bhupathi) has shaped up in singles. Despite the fact that it has been a one-off week like this where we get to play singles as well, his entry into the semi-finals will go a long way in getting his faith back in singles play. In fact, he had lost hope in singles during the last year or so, but with a couple of wins here I’m sure he will work hard on his singles, too.

His singles is only going to help his doubles because on the Tour there are few good singles players who also play good doubles. Today, his opponent Frenchman Gregory Carraz didn’t have the firepower to unsettle him. Moreover, Carraz was serving to his backhand which is Hesh’s strength anyway. He served and volleyed well. He didn’t have to do much and played solidly to go ahead.

My quarter-final match went along quite smoothly. The Pakistani boy Aisam Qureshi started off quite well initially and he had a couple of good serves and volleys. He began feeling the pressure at 4-5 in the first set whenhe started missing a couple of volleys and had some poor serves. His inexperience showed there and I knew it was a matter of routine that the breaks came.

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I wanted to get away at the earliest opportunity because it was quite humid today. After the break in the second set I just coasted along.The semi-final opponent Italian Mose Navarra is a big-serving left-hander with a big slice. That’s his strength. I haven’t played a leftie for a while now. He tends to be flashy at times and doesn’t hold back much. The advantage is that I’m playing on grass and have to go there and play on my strenghts than wait for his weaknesses.

Now that both Hesh and me are in the semi-finals it would be interesting to see whether we get as far as the final. That would be an interesting match.