Srinath, Ghouse join casualty list

MUMBAI, FEB 29: Pralhad Srinath joined his Indian Davis Cup team-mate Syed Fazaluddin in the sidelines when he was whipped in the opening ...

MUMBAI, FEB 29: Pralhad Srinath joined his Indian Davis Cup team-mate Syed Fazaluddin in the sidelines when he was whipped in the opening round of the 50,000 Videocon ATP Challenger Tennis. At the Cricket Club of India CCI courts here on Tuesday, wild card entrant Srinath caved in 1-6, 2-6 to American Tom Chicoine.

Srinath8217;s disappointment follows Monday8217;s 5-7, 4-6 first round loss of Syed Fazaluddin. The Calcuttan was beaten by Italian Giorgio Galimberti after making the main draw as a wild card. Fazal had also lost in the first round last week in the Ahmedabad Challenger.

Fazal added to his misery by losing the doubles first round as well on Tuesday. Teaming up with Frenchman Cedric Kauffmann, he lost to the Israeli tandem of Andy Ram and N Welgreen in three sets. The Indo-French combine came to Mumbai after beating South Africans Justin Bower and Damien Roberts 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Ahmedabad Challenger on Saturday.

Srinath lost in the opening round at Ahmedabad 2-6, 0-6. And on Tuesday he fared only a shade better by getting one more game. The fact that Srinath has beaten Chicoine twice earlier did little to help his confidence.

Srinath frittered away game points to be broken in the third game of the first set. The Indian had a chance for an immediate breakback, which he failed to capitalise.

Srinath had trouble getting his first serves in to be under pressure in the second set in which he dropped his serves in the fifth and seventh games.

Another Indian, Mustafa Ghouse also bit the dust when he was beaten by Florian Allganer. The Italian won 6-4, 6-4.

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Seeds found the going rough on Tuesday. Fourth-seeded Mose Navarra South Africa lost 6-7 5-7, 4-6 to Justin Bower South Africa, fifth-seeded Igor Gaudi Italy was ousted 4-6, 3-6 by Noam Behr Israel and seventh-seeded German Marcello Carca bowed out 2-6, 5-7 to Japanese Satoshi Iwabuchi.

Also making into the second round was Slovakian qualifier Boris Borgula, who ousted unseeded Mark Nielsen New Zealand 6-4, 6-1.

RESULTS

Singles 1st round: Boris Borgula Slovakia bt Mark Nielsen New Zealand 6-4, 6-1, Nicolas Coutelot France bt Gregory Carraz France 7-6 7-4, 7-6 8-6, Satoshi Iwabuchi Japan bt Marcello Craca Germany 6-2, 7-5, Noam Behr Israel bt Igor Gaudi Italy 6-4, 6-3, Justin Bower South Africa bt Mose Navarra Italy 7-6 7-5, 6-4, Tom Chicoine US bt Prahlad Srinath India 6-1, 6-2, Giorgio Galimbert Italy bt Syed Fazaluddin India 7-5, 6-4, Dennis Van Scheppingen Netherlands bt Vadim Kutsenko Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-4, Florian Allganer Italy bt Mustafa Ghouse India 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles 1st round: Oleg Ogorodov Uzbekistan/Dennis Van Scheppingen Neteherlands bt Florian Allgauer Italy/Cunha-Silva Portugal 6-1, 7-5