Bopanna goes through the distance

On a day when fancied players went through rather easily, Rohan Boppana survived an upset bid to make the second round in the US $10,000 MSLTA-ITF Futures tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana, in Pune, on Tuesday

The 21-year-old Karnataka lad, who was runner-up to his statemate Pralhad Srinath in the Bombay and Indore legs two weeks back, was forced to draw on all his experience to get the better of local lad and national junior champion Vikrant Sane 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in a first round duel which lasted an hour and 15 minutes.

Joining Bopanna in the second round were a host of fancied players which included Vijay Kannan, Syed Fazluddin, Manoj Mahadevan, Srinath and qualifier Kedar Tembe, who did well to beat another Indian qualifier, Yaser Arafat 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

Playing his first men's tournament, Sane was in no way overawed by the occasion. Instead, he displayed good temperament to take his better-known opponent to three sets.

A huge serve is Bopanna's forte, and he relied on it to take the first set at 6-3 after breaking Sane in the eighth game.

However, in the second set, Sane returned well and sent a few good down-the-line shots to pass Bopanna on both flanks. And before the Karnataka lad could know what was happening, he was broken in the second and sixth games as Sane won the set in a little over 20 minutes.

Sane continued in the same vein in the decider and looked on course for an upset as he broke Bopanna in the fifth game to lead 4-2. But then the inexperience in crunch situations told on him as he hurried to put away winners. He muffed easy volleys in the next game and was returned the compliment.

That allowed Bopanna to get back into the match. He served three aces immediately and held serve in the seventh and ninth games before breaking Sane in the 10th to take the set and match.

In the other matches, Vijay Kannan thrashed Ravi Krishna Palivela 6-1, 6-2; Srinath beat qualifier Elad Stern of Israel 6-2, 6-4; Indian Davis Cupper Syed Fazluddin beat qualifier Roy Sichel 6-1, 6-2, and Manoj Mahadevan prevailed over Ajay Ramaswami 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

In a match between two of the country's leading juniors, Mahadevan stopped the winning run of Rramaswami, winning 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.

In the first set, both players matched each other but a mini break in the tiebreaker at 6-6, gave Mahadevan the set.

In the second set, Mahadevan kept Ramaswami on the baseline and broke him in the 4th and 8th games to take the match at 6-2 in just over two hours and nine minutes.

Seventh seed Ciaran Moore was given a scare by another local lad Kedar Shah before prevailing 7-5, 7-6(7-4).

Shah was broken in the crucial 11th game in the first set.

In the second set, breaks marked the match. Shah was broken in the 1st, 9th and 11th games before Moore served well in the tiebreak to win the match in 1 hour and 32 minutes.

There were major upsets in the doubles as the Kirtane cousins, Nitin and Sandeep, upset top seeds Syed Fazaluddin and Mustafa Ghouse 7-5, 7-5 in the first round.

In another upset, third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Vijay Kanan lost to Lior Dhan and Eyalm Elrich of Israel 7-6 (8-6) 6-1.