Anand, Kirrtane shocked in semis
Top seed Kunal Anand of Delhi and second seed Nitin Kirrtane of Maharashtra were shocked in the semi-finals on a stunning day of upsets, in the 3.5 lakh MSLTAIOC Khar Gymkhana All India Ranking Men’s tennis tournament on Friday.
Unseeded Abdullah Shaikh of Telangana stunned Anand 6-2, 6-3 in a 90-minute encounter, while sixth seed Jatin Dahiya of Delhi ended Maharashtra No. 1 Kirrtane’s winning streak with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win in a twohour battle.
Anand made amends when he teamed up with Aaditya Tewari to enter the doubles final for a clash against Dhruv Sunish and Parambeer Singh.
Hampered by the niggling pain of a tennis elbow that began troubling him midway through the second set, southpaw Kirrtane of Deccan Gymkhana, Pune dropped the set after winning the first with three breaks including the crucial ninth game following an impressive recovery from 0-2.
Kirrtane initiated another brilliantly comeback from 02 in the deciding third set to lead 3-2. Games went with serve until Dahiya broke back in the ninth and held serve to halt his seasoned opponent’s campaign.
Abdullah, who lost to Anand in the first round of the Asian Tennis Tour tournament in Sri Lanka in January, had breaks in the fourth and eighth games of the opening set as Anand’s game was surprisingly littered with errors and nothing was going right for him.
Anand, runner-up last year, raised hopes of a comeback when he broke in the opening and seventh games of the second set but his challenge ended there as Abdullah broke back in the second, fourth and eighth games for a 5-3 lead.
Abdullah, who delighted with a couple double backhand cross court winners in the eighth game and a forehand down-the-line in the ninth, won the set and match on serve when Anand, a double crown winner here in 2011, hit the net.