Nitin, Rushmi reign supreme

By Kamesh Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, OCT. 14. He appreciates the talent of a junior, but not on a tennis court. Nitin Kirtane asserted his determination not to let the youngsters an easy passage, as he quelled the challenge from defending champion Sunil Kumar 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the men's final of the DSCL National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

In a contest that spanned two hours and 36 minutes, Nitin called the shots for the most part, before he became tired and a bit tight in the climax, allowing a 5-2 advantage to slip in the third set.

The 26-year-old Nitin, however, would not allow the match to slip his venomous grip, as he regrouped his game to tire his 17-year- old opponent out. The latter had made a remarkable surge much to the delight of the capacity crowd that did not tire of applauding the entertaining play, but it was beyond Sunil this day to break the shackles of Nitin who showed his mastery of slice and spin.

It was the third national title, following the triumphs in 1996 and 1998 for Nitin, who is determined to push his ATP ranking up, and possibly break back into the Davis Cup squad.

What proved crucial eventually was the first set won by Nitin. The eleventh standard student of DAV School, Chandigarh, Sunil had no clue about how to tackle his wily opponent and thus surrendered three breaks, while Nitin did well to save three breakpoints in the second game which decided the course of the contest. Sunil dropped the set in the seventh game with two successive doublefaults, and thus showed signs of nerves, in tackling an opponent who had beaten him rather convincingly the only time they had met before in a Satellite tournament in Pune.

In the second set, Sunil got the break in the first game, but Nitin broke back immediately, and broke decisively in the tenth game as well, to take a firm step towards the trophy.

In the third set, Nitin raced to a 5-2 lead with a break in the fourth game, but lost focus to lose the next five games. This was the best phase for Sunil to showcase his winners and sharp play, and he did it in style.

However, in the fourth set which proved the decider, Nitin was back to his usual sure ways, reducing his anxiety to whack the winners, and broke Sunil in the fourth and eighth games to finish the match without further hiccups.

Sunil hit more winners, 44 to 29 by Nitin, but erred a lot more, as he conceded 98 points with his mistakes to 69 errors by his opponent. Nitin had one ace and two doublefaults, while Sunil had two aces and five doublefaults. Sunil had as many 17 volley winners and the same number of winners with his groundstrokes, to highlight his all-round skills.

``He is a very good talent, but needs to work on his strength and stamina. His serve and shots are fine,'' said Nitin, quite relieved to have brought himself back into focus, after having had negative publicity in the same tournament last year, while conceding his quarterfinal at the brink of defeat to Mustafa Ghouse.

``It is a good thing to remove those bad memories. I did things which I should not have. But it is a good way to come back,'' said Nitin, as he recalled the unpleasant memories of last year.

Nitin ensured that he did not add to his bad memories from this year as well, by tightening his game after losing his way.

``I was a little relaxed at 5-2 in the third set. It was very important to win the first game of the fourth set. I am happy with the way I handled the match,'' said Nitin, who has gained considerably from a two and a half month stint in the club league recently in Germany.

In the women's final, the second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi scored a revenge 4-1, 4-1, 4-1 victory over the top- seeded Sai Jayalakshmy in 55 minutes, in bagging a double crown.

The 23-year-old Rushmi who had won the National hardcourt title in 1997 had lost in the final to Sai in the last edition here. She stroked with confidence and served fluently in overwhelming her doubles partner.

``This should be one of my best tournaments. I had a very consistent week, and was more confident today'', said Rushmi, who had beaten a series of talented youngsters, Sania Mirza, Megha Vakharia and Radhika Tulpule on way to the crown.

In the junior section, Rohan Gajjar crowned himself as the new champion, with a three-set victory over Parantap Chaturvedi in a two-hour duel, in which he trailed 1-4 in the decider. It was not a surprise, as Gajjar had given notice of his big game by winning an ITF title recently, apart from teasing Rishi Sridhar in the men's section here.

Radhika Tulpule defended her junior girls title, with a hard- fought three-set triumph over the top-seeded Sonal Phadke. It was the third national junior title for Radhika, who had won the national senior grasscourt title also earlier in the season.

Both Radhika and Sonal do not gain anything by excelling in the junior circuit anymore, as their focus has been shifted to the women's league, but the additional match practice should stand them in good stead in the season ahead.

The men's and women's winners, collected Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 27,000 respectively, and the runners-up had to be content with Rs. 21,000 and Rs. 16,500 respectively. The junior boys and girls champions were awarded Rs. 8000 and Rs. 5000 respectively, and the runners-up gathered Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 3,000 respectively.

The doubles titles were worth Rs. 18,000 and Rs. 14,000 in the men's and women's sections, and Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 3,000 respectively in the boys and girls sections.

The Managing Director of DSCL, Mr. Ajay Shriram, gave away the prizes.

The results (finals):

Men: Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt Sunil Kumar (Chd) 6-1, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Women: Rushmi Chakravarthi (IOC) bt Sai Jayalakshmy (IOC) 4-1, 4- 1, 4-1.

Junior boys: Rohan Gajjar (Mah) bt Parantap Chaturvedi (Del) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

Junior girls: Radhika Tulpule (Mah) bt Sonal Phadke (Mah) 6-4, 5- 7, 6-4.

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