Tennis nationals: Isha advances, Vijay exits early
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The first day of the Fenesta Open national tennis championship brought mixed fortunes to two former stalwarts making a return to competitive tennis.
While Isha Lakhani showed glimpses of the aggression that made her a three-time champion at this tournament, Vijay Kannan meekly surrendered to the relentless pressure from Saketh Myneni, eight years younger to the former champion.
Kannan looked short of match-practice and fitness as he was outplayed 6-3, 6-4 by Myneni who is riding high on the back of a men’s title win at the JGI Aita-ranking tennis tournament last month.
In the women’s qualifying final round, Lakhani made little work of Arushi Sharma from Delhi to qualify for the main draw with a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Speaking about her first competitive tournament in many years, Lakhani said,“I came here with some of my trainees and applied for a wild card on an impulse. I am not making a comeback into the professional circuit, but it would be good to play a few national tournaments.”
Lakhani, who now works as a full-time coach added,“The quality of tennis will get better in the main draw and the practice in qualifying matches will help me face the challenge.”
In an earlier match, eighth-seed Ajai Selvraj was the lone seeded casualty in the men’s draw, losing to fellow Tamil Nadu player Mohit Jayaprakash 6-3, 6-4.
Jayaprakash began the match on a confident note as he broke Selvaraj’s serve in the second game and quickly went ahead 3-0. The eighth-seed showed good fighting skills to level at three each with some booming serves down the middle.
However, a string of unforced errors from the eighth seed gave Jayaprakash a crucial break at 4-3. He went on to close out the first set 6-3.
“I had little difficulty in holding my serve, as I was getting a high-percentage of first-serves. On his serve, I tried to stay in the point and hit deep into the court,” said Jayaprakash.
He continued this strategy to good effect as Selvaraj found it difficult to approach the net against his deep returns. In the second set, Jayaprakash repeatedly attacked the weaker backhand of his opponent to win two breaks of serve and wrap up the match 6-3, 6-3.
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