Chennai: Indian junior Ravi Dixit went down
fighting to fifth seeded Ahmed Hawas of Egypt in the
quarterfinals of the Indian PSA Challenger Series-five here
on Thursday.
Ahmed Hawas defeated Dixit 1-11, 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-9 in
43 minutes of high quality fare.
Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu remains the lone Indian player to
move into the next round, defeating compatriot Gaurav
Nandrajog. Sandhu managed to win a 69 minute marathon at
13-11, 7-11, 16-14, 11-9, 11-4.
Dixit, ranked 266 in the World, who quelled the challenge
of fourth seeded Aqeel Rehman of Austria yesterday, was
focused but the more experienced Hawas (ranked 143) brought
about his resources in the decider.
Dixit won the first game just yielding one point. Hawas
perhaps was assessing Dixit’s strength in the first game but
the Indian was not giving away much easily in the second and
third games.
In the fourth, Dixit, who twice had the misfortune of
failing to pick the ball which fell on the “sweat” during
rally and skidded away in the earlier games, changed his
strategy of keeping the Egyptian at the back and going for
winners. This worked wonders as he was able to gain vital
points, particularly after shorter rallies.
Dixit, who was trailing at 5-6 and 6-8 at one stage reeled
four points in a row before winning the fourth game.
In the decider, Dixit from 5-5 scored two winners and gave
a horrid time to the Egyptian. However, the match continued to
be a close but Hawas leading 9-8 was too technical in his shot
selections managed to win the game and the match.
Nandrajog is equipped with good ball sense but he lacked
the finesse in converting them, particularly at vital times.
In the distaff side, it was a case of the higher ranked
overseas players having a go at the Indian duo in the Indian
WISPA Challenger Series quarterfinal matches.
At least, sixth seed Anaka Alankamony (ranked 113) was
able to take a game of fourth seeded Zoe Petrovansky (ranked
89) of Australia in her 11-8, 11-6, 2-11, 11-8 loss but
seventh seeded Anwesha Reddy (ranked 129) went down 11-4,
11-7, 11-5 to second seeded Fiona Moverley (ranked 51) of
England,the likely favourite for the title here on Saturday.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 20:57