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Kathmandu,Thursday April 27, 2000 Baishakh 15, 2057.
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Shahi, Prasad to face Thapa, Hewitt in mixed doubles final
By a Post Reporter
LALITPUR, April 26 -The mixed
pair of Chandra Shahi and Rashmi Prasad shrugged off the loss in the opening set to beat
Krishna Ghale and Sumitra Dayananda by taking final two sets in the interesting match at
Satdobato tennis complex on Wednesday for a place in the final of the first King’s
Cup Open Tennis Championship, organised by All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association (ANLTA).
Ghale and Dayananda started
well, winning the opening set of the match, 6-2 with an early break of serve. But Shahi
and Prasad began to give their best at the start of the second set. They were soon on
winning ways, taking the second set by 6-2 to bring back the match at level terms.
The third set saw Shahi and
Prasad in their awesome best, winning everything even as their opposition struggled and
were soon on their way to the final with a clean sheet of 6-0.
To join them in the final, Ram
Sharan Thapa and Francoise Hewitt beat their opposition in the pair of Kamal Bhandari and
Cathy Hunt. The match, like the preceding semifinal, progress in same manner with the
winners of opening set languishing on, as the match grew older.
In the first set, Bhandari and
Hunt virtually gave no ground to the rival pair and played superb tennis to close it at
6-2 with two breaks of serve. But Thapa and Hewitt gradually picked up their tempo and
played some brilliant passing shots as well as launching frequent attacks close from the
net. Both the pairs struggled to hang on to their respective serves in that second set,
which produced as many as four breaks of serves before Thapa and Hewitt closed it at 6-4.
By the time the match reached
the final set, Bhandari and Hunt were just down and out, barely putting any resistance to
their opposition. And Thapa and Hewitt took it comfortably at 6-1 to set up the final with
Shahi and Prasad.
Both Kamal Bhandari and Ram
Sharan Thapa had great day today as they returned back again to win the men’s doubles
semifinal as well. In the best of five sets match, they played in perfect cohesion to end
the run of Raju Chhetri and Mahesh Shrestha, winning in three straight sets with the score
of 6-4, 6-1, 6-0.
In the other men’s doubles
match, Sarad Lama teamed up with Englishman Rupert Colbourne, made a short work of Sanu
Gurung and Andrew Hunt, taking it at 6-1, 6-4. They will now face the top ranked pair of
Subha Ratna Shahi and Krishna Ghale in Thursday’s semifinal.
Rupert Colbourne quickly
finished off the rain-interrupted men’s single match, beating the promising Sri
Lankan player, Praveen Dayananda by 6-1, 7-6. The play had to be suspended due to heavy
late afternoon rain Tuesday with Colbourne on the 1-0 lead. Resuming from 2-2 in the
second set tie-breaker, Colbourne, much more experienced player, took the match winning
the tie at 7-5.
In the day’s other matches,
Elizabeth Nott beat Rasmi Prasad by 6-0, 6-3 to advance into the women’s single
semifinals. Mallika Rana, Sraddha Basnet and Francoise Hewitt filled up the remaining
slots for the semifinals. Mallika Rana defeated Cathy Hunt by 6-0, 6-1, Sraddha Basnet,
who once was the number one female player in the country, got the better of Vindya
Dayananda by 6-3, 6-1. The match between Francoise Hewitt and Celia White prolonged to the
third set before the former could win it eventually at 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
In the sub-junior boys’
quarter-finals, Shreyans Karki, Suraj Shah, Utsav Rijal and Sung Ryal Kim made the final
four. In the veteran’s singles, Manoj Rana, despite his complaint for being long away
from practice, scored a comfortable, 6-1, 6-1, victory over Abdul Rahman to reach
quarterfinals. Gyanendra Tamrakar and Deepak Shrestha also clinched straight sets win to
make it to the last eight while Steve Hunt had a walkover from Subarna Dhakwa.
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