EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2020 SPORT 19 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE End of the road for Paire and Prajnesh Indians’ schedule goes haywire Marcora stuns No. 1 seed while Kwon knocks out the Indian; Purav­Ramkumar duo beats Paes­Ebden after Coronavirus outbreak N. Sudarshan title in 2018 and reached the plan is to stay in Europe. I TATA OPEN PUNE final last year. don't know what's going to N. Sudarshan Following the outbreak of Ramkumar has played happen going forward. The PUNE the deadly Coronavirus in three Chinese Challengers in Olympics are at stake if it Tata Open Maharashtra’s China, the schedules of In­ each of the past two years goes on like this.” worst fears came true on dia’s top singles players have and reached the final of a China alone was set to Thursday as top seed Benoit been badly affected. $125,000 Challenger in Chi­ host 14 Challengers this year Paire, India No.1 Prajnesh In the recent past, Praj­ nese Taipei in April 2018. and there are now fears that Gunneswaran and crowd fa­ nesh Gunneswaran (No. Both Prajnesh and Ramku­ with the events getting can­ vourite Leander Paes all 122), Ramkumar Ramanath­ mar won’t be travelling this celled, the entry cut­offs at crashed out of the an (182) and Sasikumar Mu­ year. other tournaments will go tournament. kund (263) have used the ra­ “I was supposed to play in higher. Prajnesh, however, First Prajnesh was beaten pidly improving East Asian China, but won’t be going downplayed it. 6­3, 7­6(5) by South Korea’s swing of the ATP Challenger there,” confirmed Prajnesh. “Doesn’t really make it Soonwoo Kwon; then Paire circuit in March and April to “I’ll be playing in Kazakh­ more difficult,” he said. “It’s turned in an abject perfor­ prop up their rankings. stan or something. I just just a bit more tricky in that mance to lose to Italian Ro­ But with the ATP cancell­ have to look at the calendar it involves more travelling.” berta Marcora 6­4, 6­4 before ing all four Challengers in and go wherever tourna­ Paes’ defeat in his last appea­ China during March (Qujing, ments are available.” Closely monitored rance in an ATP 250 at home Zhuhai, Shenzhen and The ATP said it was monitor­ rounded off the evening. Zhangjiagang), the players Hard blow ing the situation closely. “We The Indian doubles le­ will now have to look el­ For Sasikumar, in particular, had to cancel / delay the Chi­ gend and his partner Aussie sewhere. The ATP is yet to it will be a hard blow, for he nese Challengers in March,” Matthew Ebden were make a decision on the tour­ played five Challengers in said Alison Lee, the ATP’s thrashed by Purav Raja and naments in April, but with March and April across Chi­ Executive Vice President, In­ Ramkumar Ramanathan 6­2, apprehensions about travell­ na and Chinese Taipei, in­ ternational Group. “We have 6­1. ing very high, the Indians cluding the two in Shenzhen had to adapt, shift a few tour­ The Indian pair was ruth­ are set to miss the whole and Zhangjiagang that have naments so that player flow less on the night, winning swing. been cancelled. was not affected. Natural oc­ 82% of its service points and Powering through: Purav Raja and Ramkumar Ramanathan proved too strong for Leander Paes and Matthew Ebden. * R. RAGU The $162,480 Anning “I don't have a schedule, currences like this happen not providing a single oppor­ Challenger scheduled for where can I plan next?” said and we have to be prepared. tunity to break. In contrast, Prajnesh 6­3. The 30­year­old played a hand to give Kwon two Gerasimov (Blr) bt Nikola Milo- April has been a happy hunt­ a worried Sasikumar. “The But it's mainly China. Alth­ showed a lot more fight. He much better second set, stay­ match points and the South jevic (Srb) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. ing ground for Prajnesh. He tournaments got cancelled ough we may look at delay­ Mystifying surrender displayed much attacking ing with his opponent for the Korean took it on the second Doubles (quarterfinals): Purav won his maiden Challenger last Tuesday. For now the ing the April tournaments.” Paire’s, on the other hand, verve and constantly took up first eight games. with an easy forehand volley. Raja & Ramkumar Ramanathan was a mystifying surrender. aggressive court positions. bt Leander Paes & Matthew Eb- “I don’t think I played a den 6-2, 6-1. The World No. 19 lost to an But Kwon, the tournament’s Upping the ante bad match," said Prajnesh. “I DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD opponent ranked a whop­ fourth seed, while being re­ Kwon, however, upped his am not much better than DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD ping 155 places below him. solute in defence, transi­ level in the ninth, earning him, but at the same time Order of Play Marcora broke in the fifth tioned seamlessly into attack multiple break points. But not much worse. So they Centre Court game of the first set to take it mode. Prajnesh proved equal to the were really small margins. 6­4, before breaking at a si­ On the day, he would hit task by saving four of them. But these are the kind of B Jiri Vesely (Cze) milar stage in the second to one winner more than Praj­ The match slipped into a tie­ matches I should be winning vs Ilya Ivashka (Blr) establish a firm grip. Paire nesh (22 to 21) and commit 12 break and there the World consistently.” B got one break back but lost errors fewer (35 to 47). No. 88 outshone Prajnesh. Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) The results: vs Ricardis Berankis (Ltu) serve immediately to hand After the two traded At 3­3, the 22­year­old Second round: Soonwoo Kwon B Roberto Marcora (Ita) the initiative to Marcora. The breaks in the first two games, Kwon hit an ace before a (Kor) bt Prajnesh 6-3, 7-6(5); vs James Duckworth (Aus) Italian did go down 15­40 Prajnesh down a break­point wide forehand by Prajnesh Roberto Marcora (Ita) bt Benoit while serving at 5­4, but the at 2­3, dumped an easy over­ left him on the threshold of a Paire (Fra) 6-4, 6-4; James B Soonwoo Kwon (Kor) result never seemed in head into the net. win. Duckworth (Aus) bt Taro Daniel vs Egor Gerasimov (Blr) Sasikumar Mukund. Ramkumar Ramanathan. Prajnesh Gunneswaran. doubt. He went on to lose the set Prajnesh netted a back­ (Jpn) 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-3; Egor DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD * R. RAGU * R. RAGU * R. RAGU Paes named in team for Croatia tie Manage your expectations: Lee India fined again “The selection committee Target players ranked 10­40, says ATP Executive VP DAVIS CUP had also decided that Anand Agence France-Presse Kamesh Srinivasan Dubey and Yash Pandey N. Sudarshan “Getting top­10 players is Dubai NEW DELHI would be the physios for the PUNE very difficult. You look at Team India was fined 80 The All India Tennis Associa­ team. But, it was brought to In light of the Tata Open Roger [Federer], Rafa [Na­ percent of its match fees af­ tion (AITA) has announced a the attention of the commit­ Maharashtra not featuring a dal] and Novak [Djokovic]. ter Wednesday's first One­ six­member team for the Da­ tee that Anand could be busy single top­10 player for the How many 250s did they Day International against vis Cup World Group quali­ with the Fed Cup team, if it first time since 2003, ATP’s play last year? I’m not saying New Zealand for a slow ov­ fier tie against Croatia to be was held the same week,” executive vice­president Ali­ it would be impossible to get er rate, the International played on indoor hard court said Bishwadeep. son Lee said on Thursday it a top­10 player, but I think Cricket Council (ICC) said. in Zagreb on March 6 and 7. Even though a six­member would have been prudent the focus should be on those It is the third consecu­ The team will have Praj­ team has been announced, for the organisers to have from 10 to 40,” she said. tive match that Virat Kohli's nesh Gunneswaran, Sumit only a five­member team has pursued players ranked 10 side has been fined for the Nagal and Ramkumar Ra­ to be intimated to the ITF. to 40. Changes likely offence, having been de­ manthan for singles. There One player would travel as a But she acknowledged that ducted 40 percent follow­ will be three doubles players reserve, and the name would Pushed back Alison Lee. while a comprehensive re­ ing the fourth T20I and 20 * in Rohan Bopanna, Leander Leander Paes... back in the mix. * R. RAGU be decided in due course. With the ATP Cup taking the SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT view has been planned for percent after the fifth T20I Paes and Divij Sharan. coveted start­of­the­season 2023, there could be chang­ last Sunday. Kohli accepted Rohit Rajpal continues as team for the year 2020,” clar­ before the team was Clarity needed slot and Doha 250, with its have to go after players fairly es to the calendar before the charge after India's the captain of the team, even ified Akhouri Bishwadeep, finalised. “We could have announced hefty prize purse, running aggressively. that. four­wicket defeat in Hamil­ though he was originally sup­ CEO, AITA.