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Chennai Open: Prakash falls in round 1, Bopanna advances

By Super Admin

Chennai, Jan 6: Prakash Amritraj, Indian Davis Cupper lost yet another time in his first-round match to higher rated and fifth-seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany 2-6, 6-4, 1-6 in 85 minutes. While Rohan Bopanna made his passage to the main draw after winning his final qualifying match in the $450,000 ATP Chennai Open on Monday, Jan 5.

Prakash who is in Chennai Open since 2003, had a practice match with the German, a veteran in the circuit and almost a regular in Chennai Open. But former had no answers to the tactical play of Schuettler.

It was in 2006 that Prakash could cross the first round hurdle, getting the better of Brazil's Ricardo Mello 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, but lost in the second round to second seeded Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic. Prakash Amritraj, who does not hold an Indian passport and has been favoured with a wild card entry for the tournament for the last seven years, has already evoked criticism for his continued poor show at the lone ATP event in India.

Schuettler, who lost to Byron Black in the final here in 1999, prepared for the 2009 season in Kenya before reaching the city.

He had a good start in his campaign and was more focused in winning the first set rather easily at 6-2. The German was more relaxed and perhaps wanted to have some good match practice before meeting his compatriot Simon Greul (126) in the second round and allowed Prakash to enjoy two breaks in the second game.

The fact was that Schuettler, while trying to experiment with a few shots, ended up making some unforced errors. On some occasions Prakash rushed to the net to finish a contest but twice he sent those shots wide.

However, Prakash rose in stature as the match grew and came up with some great winners, particularly the double-handed back hand cross court shots. He stretched the match to the decider and trailed 1-3 and had a break point in the fifth game but surrendered the initiative.

Bopanna proved that he still has the venom for singles play as he remained the lone Indian to make the main round among 18 others who took part in qualifying. Playing the final qualifying round, Bopanna, who had a strenuous preparation of three weeks of physical conditioning in Bangalore under Shyamal Pallabje, withstood the pressure to bounce back after losing the first set to Michael Berrer of Germany.

Bopanna, who had refused a wild card entry in doubles event of the tournament, tightened his grip on his baseline game and then maintained it to win the decider and the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. After Monday, Jan 5's win Bopanna said, "I have improved on my game and strategy. When I was down 1-3 in the final set, I was a bit tired but still got back into the game. People think I have given up singles play but it is not like that."

Asked to talk on his exclusion from the Davis Cup team for the away match against Romania, Bopanna said, "They decided to take only four players for the match but at home, I was part of it."

As for the main draw, the season's opener started on a sour note for the Spaniards as three of former champion Carlos Moya's countrymen were sent packing after losing their respective first round matches.

Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ranked 90) was the first to go, going down to Simon Greul (126) of Germany 3-6, 4-6. Germany's Bjorn Phau (120) then accounted for another Spaniard, Santiago Ventura (123) 6-2, 7-5. On the centre court, third-seed Marin Cilic (ranked 23) faced little difficult in
moving to the next round with a confident 6-4, 6-4 win over Spain's Alberto Martin (100).

Results:

Qualifying:

Rohan Bopanna (Ind) bt Michael Berrer (Ger) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Rajeev Ram (US) bt Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3

Flavio Ciplla (Ita) bt Alex Satschko (Ger) 6-3, 6-1

Danai Udomchoke (thai) bt Kyu Tae-Im (Kor) 7-6(5), 6-1.


Main draw (First round)

Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Alberto Martin (Esp) 6-4, 6-4

Simon Greul (Ger) bt Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Esp) 6-3, 6-4

Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt Santiago Ventura (Esp) 6-2, 7-5

Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.


OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)

Story first published: Thursday, August 24, 2017, 16:38 [IST]
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