HINDU - Sunday, Oct 27, 2002

It was intriguing. To find the best-ranked Mustafa Ghouse falter out of the title race in the DSCL National tennis championship, was indeed a mystery.

What stood out was the honest effort by the eventual champion, Vinod Sridhar, as he made light of his relative inexperience and the lack of a lethal weapon, in recording a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory in two hours and 20 minutes at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

What stood out in equal measure was the gutsy effort of the 17-year-old Isha Lakhani as she provided a quality fare in bagging the women's crown at the expense of the petite Sonal Phadke and went on to add the girls' title, with an effortless victory against Sasha Abraham.

It was indeed a brilliant effort on the part of Isha, who had made it to the doubles quarterfinals of the US Open junior event with Sania Mirza, to have won three titles, including the women's doubles title with Sonal.

Coming back to the men, it was tough to explain the meek surrender of Mustafa, the best Indian in the draw at 503 in the world, with 39 ATP points, against Vinod Sridhar who has a modest ranking of 820 with 11 ATP points.

With Rohan Bopanna opting out to recover from the long stint of international assignments, and to be ready for the hectic final leg of the international season, it was Mustafa who had everything, including a delightful serve and volley game, to take the title. He looked to be on course, as he shook the backboard with thundering serves, despite a hesitant start when he got broken in the first game.

However, it was the sheer guts of left-handed Vinod, who will be celebrating his 23rd birthday in December, that prevailed in the end and proved many a tennis pundit wrong.

In a best-of-five-set match, it was important to take the first set, and Vinod won the initiative in the tie-break, as Mustafa doublefaulted and committed two more unforced errors after it was 4-4.

If that looked a give-away of brittle nerves in a set in which there were six breaks of serve, Mustafa played close to his best in the second set, to silence the swinging tongues briefly by putting things on par, tilting the balance with a break in the seventh game and winding up the set with a backhand pass on setpoint in the ninth.

After an hour and a half, the match looked to be starting afresh, but if the sizeable gathering hoped for an entertaining climax, it was not to be. Even as Vinod tightened his game, playing well within his limitations, Mustafa's big game deserted him, and made him cut a sorry figure.

Mustafa won only two of the next 14 games, holding serve in the third and sixth games of the third and fourth sets respectively. He saved a matchpoint in the sixth game of the fourth set, but Vinod stuck to the basics, and was quite intense with his approach, in serving out the match in the next game.

It was the second time that Mustafa was losing in the national hardcourt final after his defeat to Sunil Kumar in 1999. He does have the national grasscourt title to show, but this final will haunt him for some time, as he was the clear favourite, despite being seeded fourth.

For Vinod, the former National Games champion, who trains at the Krishnan Centre in Chennai, it was a morale-boosting experience. "This is the best title for me. I will try to do well in the Futures tournaments over the next three weeks, and plan the programme for next season,'' said Vinod, who is pursuing MCA, apart from working in the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).

The story was no different in the women's section, in terms of the underdog calling the shots. It was Sonal who had the best WTA ranking of 598 in the assembly here. And, Isha Lakhani did not have a WTA ranking!

One of the brightest juniors in the country, who plays every point with considerable intensity, Isha got off to a flying start, and pushed her hard-stroking opponent with her quality game.

Sonal was game for a fight and recovered from being broken in the first game to lead 3-1. However, Isha hit with accuracy on either flank to exasperate the wiry lass.

The 20-year-old Sonal shot her way back with poise in the second set when she led 4-2 and had four breakpoints to go up 5-2. Isha sensed danger and goaded her weary legs to be quicker to the ball, for spanking winners. She wriggled through in straight sets at 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in an hour and 40 minutes.

Sonal missed a setpoint in the tenth game, and paid for it eventually. She was indeed heart-broken, for Sonal had played some of the best tennis in recent months.

"The women's title is important for me, but the real challenge would be to win the WTA titles starting with the $10,000 events,'' said Isha.

The real challenge indeed is to have a smooth transition from the junior level to the senior ranks internationally. From that viewpoint, there was another lad who offered hope, as R. Arun Prakash, a trainee with the Krishnan Centre, supported by the Tamil Nadu Academy of Tennis Excellence (TATE), defended the junior boys' title with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Amanjot Singh.

Arun plays a classical serve and volley game. He was sharp from the beginning and stretched his game to the best possible levels to overcome the talented Amanjot Singh, who does have an explosive game.

Amanjot was, perhaps, drained after having negotiated the qualifying events in the boys' and men's sections, apart from competing in the doubles event. There was, of course, no doubt about the quality fare provided by Arun, who led 6-2, 5-3 before allowing Amanjot make a final hurrah.

"I had lost to Amanjot five times in a row. This was the first time I beat him. The idea was to play the best I can, trying to be as aggressive as possible,'' said Arun.

The men's and women's singles winners collected Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 27,000 respectively. The runners-up bagged Rs. 21,000 and Rs. 16,500 respectively. The junior boys' title was worth Rs. 8,000, while the runner-up got Rs.5,000. The junior girls' title was worth Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 3,000 for the runner-up.

The Lt. Governor of Delhi, Vijai Kapoor, gave away the prizes. The Chairman and Managing Director of DSCL, Ajay Shriram, assured that his organisation would further improve the standard of the tournament, to keep building on its status as the best tennis event in the domestic circuit.

The results (finals):

Men: Vinod Sridhar bt Mustafa Ghouse 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Women: Isha Lakhani bt Sonal Phadke 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

Junior boys: R. Arun Prakash bt Amanjot Singh 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

Junior girls: Isha Lakhani bt Sasha Abraham 6-1, 6-3.