ITF $25K Men's Satellite Leg-2 Results

Post by **jayakris** » Fri Jun 13, 2003 2:54 pm

Semi Scores:

V.Kannan d. F.Widhiyanto, 64 64
P.Amritraj d. M.Ghouse, 64 32 (retd.)

Shoulder trouble for Mustafa. Argh. Just when we thought he was coming out of his funk .. Steady run by Prakash and Vijay so far.

Doubles -- V.Kannan/S.Panja win on a walkover from Ghouse/Uppal in the final today. Looks like Ghouse-Uppal had beaten the Amritrajs in the other semi last night.

Jay

Post by **Dhruv** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 11:28 am

And Praksh Amritraj won the final quite easily in the end.

Prakash Amritraj d. Vijay Kannan 63 61

Either Prakash played extremely well or Vijay played a poorly as I had expected a much better more competitive match. Congrats to Prakash. I think he probably currently leads the satellite series.

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 12:46 pm

Prakash has shown this week that he is India's #4 singles player at the moment -- behind Leander, Harsh and Rohan. I hope he sustains this form through the next two weeks, or at least does well enough to finish at the top of this Satellite circuit. To be performing as well as he did in the final -- in the searing heat of pre-monsoon India (Chandigarh has yet to get too much rain, although it received some mild pre-monsoon showers this week) -- is a testament to his genuine abilities.
God bless the arrival of a worthy new Amritraj pro!

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 12:54 pm

If he does top the circuit, Prakash stands to gain 36 entry-system points -- which should vault his ranking toward about 390, enough I believe to regularly get into Challenger qualifiers everywhere, and into Futures main draws without any problems. Clearly with father Vijay by his side, Prakash is making the right kind of progress. Let's hope he can sustain it for another fortnight, and that Sunil rises to the occasion to give him some competition. Next year, AITA should ensure that these Satellites don't clash so completely with Wimbledon! Hopefully, Prakash will be in the main draw there next year, but...

Post by **jayakris** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 1:02 pm

I too think Prakash is pretty much the #4 player right now, unless Sunil can return from injury troubles and take the spot away somehow .. If PA tops the satellite circuit in the end, expect him in Netherlands as #5.

What has also been impressive is how well-natured he has been, in his comments to the press and all. He "dared" others to "come to India and play these circuits" to know how tough it is (to those who think the Indian satellites are easy), and he also talked about how good those like Vijay, Mustafa, Ajay, etc are. Papa has certainly taught him good diplomacy also.

.. doesn't surprise me. The few times I have met him, I have really liked the guy. No airs about him, and he is just having fun doing this.

In my view he has the most all-round tools among all young Indians. I think he still need to learn a bit more patience (he has been improving) to play the grinders abroad, but I don't think most of the Indians in the circuit have the patience to make him impatient! .. The good thing is that he has solid strokes to play the patient game if he chooses to. Hint, hint, we need PA in the european clay for 2-3 months next summer. Then watch out!

Jay

PKBasu · Post by **PKBasu** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 5:16 pm

Named after Prakash Padukone, and with Vijay as his father, it is hardly surprising that the spirit of sportsmanship is second-nature to Prakash Amritraj. I agree that he probably needs to spend time on clay to hone his skills. But I think the best time to do it will be in October-December -- in South American challengers and futures during the southern summer (which is the "off-season" for the rest of the world's tennis), as Leander did at least once. Then he will be raring to go at the start of the year, can win a few rounds at Chennai and go into the Aussie Open with some credibility...