$25K+H challenger Delhi (Results-Heuberger wins title)

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 12:55 pm

Does anyone know where in Delhi (and on what surface) the Challenger is being played. Presumably it's not on the DLTA grass-courts?

Post by **Dhruv** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 1:05 pm

Final Qualifying round

Code: Select all

   Jonathan Marray(GBR)   d.    Tushar Liberhan(IND)   62 61
   Vishaal Uppal(IND)     d.    Nathan Healey(AUS)     63 76(2)
WC Karan Rastogi(IND)     d. 3. Luke Bourgeois(AUS)    46 62 62
7. Jonathan Erlich(ISR)   d. WC Somdev Dev Varman(IND) 62 16 61

So it's the same five + Karan in the main draw this time around. Hopefully they get easier draws and can create much more damage. Great results for Karan and also Vishaal who justifies his WC which he got last week. I guess I take back what I said about other players being a little more deserving than him.

The matches are supposed to be on HARD (DECOTURF) according to the fact sheet.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 1:29 pm

Here is a truly searing talent. Karan Rastogi's performances this week-end have been utterly amazing, and the fact that he had the opportunity to showcase his astonishing talent is a great credit to Globosport (Mahesh Bhupathi) and AITA. At 16 years and 6 months, he beat Jamie Delgado (ranked near 100 a couple of years ago and still a pretty good player), David Sherwood (another pretty good British player) and now Luke Bourgeois (an Aussie seeded third in the qualifiers).
Jay began to highlight this kid's talent a couple of years ago, when he was effectively the world's top-ranked 14-year-old male player (Sania Mirza answered to that description on the female side). Last month, Karan and Somdev showed they were making serious progress in the junior ranks with some fine performances in Grade 1 junior events in Asia (although the girls -- led by Sania and Sanaa Bhambri -- did even better!). Now Karan has showcased his talent on the full-scale pro circuit by qualifying for a Challenger (effectively skipping the Futures stage!). Let us pray that this talent is carefully husbanded and nurtured -- so that he can rise to the very top of the men's game in time. At least, our Davis Cup future is beginning to look fairly secure, touch wood! And for the first time we have a Fed Cup future too.
This week in Delhi, there'll be 6 Indians playing in the first round of a Challenger (two of whom would have qualified with their own performances, and three of the other four whose performances last week in Bangalore effectively qualified them definitively for their wild cards). There is really good depth in Indian tennis now, though one of these 6 need to make the breakthrough to the top 200 within the next half year, and preferably to the top 100 within the next 12 months (Karan should still concentrate on trying to win a junior Slam this year before gradually easing into the pro circuit over the course of the next 24 months). Vishaal Uppal, 17-year-old Chatwinder Singh (who took Israel's Ehrlich to three sets), Somdev Dev Varman (who narrowly failed to qualify this week) all add to the depth of our talent pool, which should be attempting a breakthrough over the next year. Last week and this should provide the perfect launching pad.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 4:14 pm

Indian Oil Servo ATP Challenger
New Delhi, India
April 28-May 4, 2003
Hard - $25,000+H

Singles
Seeds: (cut: Johan Settergren - 266)
1. John van Lottum
2. Gregory Carraz
3. Jean-Francois Bachelot
4. Noam Okun
5. Ivo Heuberger
6. Yen-Hsun Lu
7. Bjorn Rehnquist
8. Tuomas Ketola

First Round
(1)John van Lottum (NED) vs (q)Vishal Uppal (IND)
Arvind Parmar (GBR) vs (q)Karan Rastogi (IND)
Danai Udomchoke (THA) vs (WC)Rohan Bopanna (IND)
(6)Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) vs (WC)Vijay Kannan (IND)
(3)Jean-Francois Bachelot (FRA) vs Maximilian Abel (GER)
Rodolphe Cadart (FRA) vs Doug Bohaboy (USA)
Gilles Elseneer (BEL) vs Louis Vosloo (RSA)
(7)Bjorn Rehnquist (SWE) vs (q)Jonathan Marray (GBR)
(5)Ivo Heuberger (SUI) vs Johan Settergren (SWE)
Alun Jones (AUS) vs Andy Ram (ISR)
Noam Behr (ISR) vs (WC)Prakash Amritraj (IND)
(4)Noam Okun (ISR) vs Yves Allegro (SUI)
(8)Tuomas Ketola (FIN) vs Yuri Schukin (RUS)
Gouichi Motomura (JPN) vs (q)Jonathan Erlich (ISR)
Dmitri Vlasov (RUS) vs (WC)Harsh Mankad (IND)
(2)Gregory Carraz (FRA) vs Radoslav Lukaev (BUL)

Doubles
Seeds: (cut: Kannan/Ramaswami - 723)
1. Luke Bourgeois/Nathan Healey
2. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram
3. Yuri Schukin/Orest Tereshchuk
4. Yves Allegro/Jean-Francois Bachelot

First Round
(1)Luke Bourgeois/Nathan Healey (AUS) vs Trent Aaron/Todor Enev (USA/BUL)
Rodolphe Cadart/Gregory Carraz (FRA) vs Radoslav Lukaev/Dmitri Vlasov (BUL/RUS)
(3)Yuri Schukin/Orest Tereshchuk (RUS/UKR) vs Jamie Delgado/Louis Vosloo (GBR/RSA)
Jonathan Marray/David Sherwood (GBR) vs Vijay Kannan/Ajay Ramaswami (IND)
Doug Bohaboy/Tuomas Ketola (USA/FIN) vs Prakash Amritraj/Rohan Bopanna (IND)
(4)Yves Allegro/Jean-Francois Bachelot (SUI/FRA) vs Bjorn Rehnquist/Johan Settergren (SWE)
Harsh Mankad/Vishal Uppal (IND) vs Tushar Liberhan/Chatwinder Singh (IND)
(2)Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR) vs Somdev K. Dev Varman/Karan Rastogi (IND)

In singles, all our guys have tough matches, with Rohan going up against Danai Udomchoke (the Thai player who is well known to our fans: jirobkk will be unhappy at this match-up for instance), Karan against Parmar (who, on the last year's form, is really the British #3, well ahead of the two Brits Karan beat in the Qualies; then again, the sky now appears the limit for Karan!). Mankad gets to play Vlasov (whom he beat in Bangalore) before running into Carraz (the man who won B'lore, beating Harsh in the Semi) in R2. Tough matches for all our singles hopefuls really. But this isn't surprising given that this is a very tough field indeed, with the top seed (vanLottum) ranked near 100 and the cut-off at world #266. Hopefully, after this week Rohan won't be too far behind that cut-off ranking! Given the way our guys played last week, all 6 of our R1 representatives are in with a chance. All the best guys!!! Onto R2!

In doubles, Mankad/Uppal get a slight lucky break -- playing the junior pairing of Liberhan/Chatwinder in R1. From the way the draw is reported, there may not have been any qualifiers (perhaps because not enough doubles teams had entered? something for Anonymous1 to ponder!). Kannan/Ramaswami and Bopanna/Amritraj have winnable R1 matches too, and who knows Rastogi/DevVarman might polish off the second-seeds too given the way they've been playing lately.

Post by **jayakris** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 4:26 pm

IN-BLEEPING-CREDIBLE stuff from Karan Rastogi and Somdev Varman.

Sorry, I was away for a day and have not updated my notes. Later today I will do that with some stuff on the kids' stupendous effort.

I left in the morning (my time) saturday and saw a totally excited quick email from Sunil Yajaman, who seemed to be hyperventilating at the kids' upsets in the first two rounds

--- I am not sure in what condition he is after today's final round qualies! ...

And contgrats to Vishal Uppal for his work too!

There is a perceptible change suddenly in Indian tennis. What happened?

Jay

BSharma · Post by **BSharma** » Sun Apr 27, 2003 9:10 pm

I was gone for the past couple of days and I returned to find out about the tremendous display by our youngsters. I hope and pray that the appropriate people handling these players will do the right things to develop these "diamonds in the rough" into world champions! Go Karan and become the giant killer of the UK tennis team. People questioned Vishaal's entry into the previous Challenger event and he is now showing the doubters that he can play singles also besides doubles. It is time to bring more challenger events to India - we are developing two tiers of young players - one who are ready for Challengers and another that still need to sharpen their skills in the Futures. India needs to have tournaments for both types of players now.

nkoth · Post by **nkoth** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 3:41 pm

Some scores (all 1st round):

PARMAR, Arvind (GBR) d. Q RASTOGI, Karan (IND) 36 63 64

8 LU, Yen-Hsun (TPE) d. WC KANNAN, Vijay (IND) 61 64

7 REHNQUIST, Bjorn (SWE) d. Q MURRAY, Jonathan (GBR) 76(4) 61
5 HEUBERGER, Ivo (SUI) d. SETTERGREN, Johan (SWE) 63 26 62
RAM, Andy (ISR) d. JONES, Alun (AUS) 75 61

-neil

Post by **jayakris** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 3:45 pm

Monday results:

Arvind Parmar (GBR) d. (Q) Karan Rastogi (IND) 36 63 64
(6) Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) d. (WC) Vijay Kannan (IND) 61 64
(7) Bjorn Rehnquist (SWE) d. (Q) Jonathan Marray (GBR) 76(4) 61
(5) Ivo Heuberger (SUI) d. Johan Settergren (SWE) 63 26 62
Andy Ram (ISR) d. Alun Jones (AUS) 75 61

Yet another tough match from Karan .. He will get three points for qualifying in, but ATP points does not matter for him. What a show by the guy!

Jay

Post by **Dhruv** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 5:28 pm

Some more Monday results, just doubles this time around

Harsh Mankad/Vishal Uppal(IND) bt Tushar Liberhan/Chatwinder Singh(IND) 60 61

Doug Bohaboy (USA)/Tuomas Ketola (Fin) bt Prakash Amritraj/Rohan Bopanna(IND) 64 63

Dmitry Vlasov (Rus)/Radoslav Lukaev (Bul) bt Rodolphe Cadar/Gregory Carraz (Fra) 76(2) 64
Luke Bourgeois/Nathan Healey (Aus) bt Trent Aaron (USA)/Todor Enev (Bul)64 62
Yves Allegro (Sui)/ JeanFrancois Bachelot (Fra) bt Bjorn Rehnquist/Johan Settergren (Swe)63 64
Orest Tereshchuk (Ukr)/Yuri Schukin (Rus) bt Jamie Delgado (GBR)/ Louis Vosloo (RSA)75 61.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 6:02 pm

That Karan Rastogi at 16 years of age was able to test Arvind Parmar to the very limit is wonderful testimony to his talent and potential. Clearly, he will be one of the strongest juniors in the world for the rest of this year, and should rise rapidly from his current junior ranking of 58. Somdev (now ranked 41 among juniors) should also be able to jump in the months ahead.
A bit sad that PA/RB fell to tough opponents in R1. We still have four singles contenders, although Uppal plays the top seed. Let's get some victories tomorrow!

gvhvhg · Post by **gvhvhg** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 9:54 pm

So karan will now be on the ATP computer!!!!

He will get 3 pts for qualifying
Will he get more for being in the first round...perhaps 1 more point?

jirobkk · Post by **jirobkk** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 9:29 am

Danai Udomchoke(THA) vs Rohan Bopanna(IND)

Anyway good luck to both. The better will win.

Post by **Dhruv** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 2:45 pm

(1)John van Lottum (NED) d. (q)Vishal Uppal (IND) 61 63
Danai Udomchoke (THA) d. (WC)Rohan Bopanna (IND) 75 62
(WC)Prakash Amritraj (IND) d. Noam Behr (ISR) 76(5) 64
(q)Jonathan Erlich (ISR) d. Gouichi Motomura (JPN) 75 57 64
Dmitri Vlasov (RUS) d. (WC)Harsh Mankad (IND) 64 62
(2)Gregory Carraz (FRA) d. Radoslav Lukaev (BUL) 1-1 retd (upset stomach Delhi belly

)

Bad day at the office for Indian players but Prakash advances to keep hopes alive. Also see Rohan thread for interview

jirobkk · Post by **jirobkk** » Tue Apr 29, 2003 4:29 pm

Well done Danai and Lu.

Better luck next time Rohan Bopanna (IND)

I have a feeling that Danai will do better against Lu this time. Good luck Danai and Lu, the better will win.

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