HINDUSTAN TIMES - Friday, Oct 25, 2002 - HT Correspondent

It turned out to be one hell of a roller-coaster ride for the big guns at the DSCL Open National tennis championship, with Vijay Kannan and Sheetal Goutham succumbing in the quarter-finals. Adding to the drama and excitement, quite literally, was the command performance from teenagers Somdev Devvarman and Isha Lakhani as they made the semi-finals in the men's and women's sections.

For a tournament shorn of star value, dramatic results like this bring the event alive. To be sure, it was the ouster of defending champion and top seed Vijay Kannan that was the biggest upset.

The Chennai man is not the type who loses easily. But lack of match play in recent weeks - he had fractured his thumb six weeks ago - showed, as he was not stroking well at all. "I had not prepared well for this event," he said later. But that does not take the credit away from Vinod Sridhar, who had a good gameplan to counter Vijay. Vinod knew Vijay loves to volley and what he had to do was execute good passing shots. It worked well. "I was surprised I won so easily as I had lost to Vijay twice in a row before," said Vinod later.

Somdev was another impressive winner against Kamala Kannan. There has never been any doubting Somdev's potential. The BAT trainee has shown consistency and to come good in the men's event for an 18-year-old was a very positive sign, as he handled Kamala's game well.

If one thought Somdev's loss in the under-18 event a day earlier was an indication of poor form, he proved everyone wrong.

To beat Kamala was not easy since the senior player had come in with a lot of practice after needing to qualify. Somdev now plays Vinod, fully aware he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

In the women's section, the new-look, lean and mean Shruti Dhawan showed she is still a force to reckon with as she beat top seed and last year's runner-up Sheetal Goutham in three sets. To start with, Shruti was not in top form. She was almost playing into Sheetal's hand by trying to counter punch from the backcourt.

But as the match wore on, Shruti got more aggressive, the 6-2 scoreline in the decider being proof of it. "It was nice to beat Sheetal as I had lost to her in previous meetings," said Shruti.

Meanwhile, Isha showed she has matured after the exposure abroad. A member of the Asian Games squad, she was confidence personified in her win over former National champion Radhika Tulpule.

Results (all quarters)

MEN: Somdev Devvarman b Kamala Kannan 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Vinod Sridhar b Vijay Kannan 6-4, 6-1; Mustafa Ghouse b Ajay Ramaswamy 6-3, 6-3; Nitin Kirtane b Kedar Tembe 6-4, 6-1. Boys (under-18): Parantap Chaturvedi b Rupesh Roy 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; Arun prakash b Tushar Liberhan 6-2, 6-2; Amanjot Singh b Wrik Ganguly 6-1, 6-3; Chatwinder Singh b Divij Sharan 6-4, 1-6, 6-0.

WOMEN: Shruti Dhawan b Sheetal Goutham 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Sonal Phadke b Lisa Pereira 6-3, 6-3; Ankita Bhambri b Geeta Manohar 6-3, 6-0; Isha Lakhani b Radhika Tulpule 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1. Girls (under-18): Isha Lakhani b Iciri Rai 6-0, 6-2; Lata Asudani b Priyanka Parekh 6-1, 6-0; Sasha Abraham b M Kamini 7-5, 6-0; Poonam Reddy b M.Ranganathai 6-1, 6-4.