Low prize money keeps players away

VM Ranjeet in the quarters of the men’s tennis championship; Goutham also in last 8

NEW DELHI: Top seed VM Ranjeet has returned to play in the DSCL National men’s tennis championship after a gap of two years and is excited rather than disappointed to see the depleted field.

“This is my opportunity to win the title. I have been playing well and fancy myself as the champion here,” Ranjeet said after a 6-1 6-2 victory over Prateek Bhambri.

The tournament is sans a dozen or so of the top players because of the low prize money. The winner will get a cheque of Rs. 30,000.

Ranjeet had an easy outing on Tuesday, letting his error-prone opponent to only hold the fourth game to clinch the first set in 20 minutes flat. Even though Bhambri started hitting the lines for a brief while early in the second set, he could not keep up the tempo and conceded a 2-5 lead to let Ranjeet serve for the match.

Ranjeet will take on eighth-seeded Arjun Goutham of Karnataka in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Goutham was an impressive 6-3 6-3 winner over Delhi’s Palash Tiwari.

Third-seeded PC Vignesh and seventh-seeded Kamala Kannan also sailed through with straight set wins.