When Vivek Shokeen ran into second seed Karan Rastogi in their national grasscourt pre-quarters, the tournament itself got reduced to being a sideshow to the duel.
NEW DELHI: In a pride, there can be only one boss. The sooner the other cubs get the message, the better. When Vivek Shokeen ran into second seed Karan Rastogi in their national grasscourt pre-quarters, the tournament itself got reduced to being a sideshow to the duel.
This was bigger. Two budding Davis Cuppers were in a face-off that would leave one all the stronger to leap off the reserve bench. That apart, there was the ego bit. Both are looking to find their manhood in the demanding trenches of the senior tour after the easier bouts with kid gloves amongst the juniors. Rastogi won 6-3 7-5 to assert that where he prowls, the others tread at their peril.
The upset of the day was registered by another fresh prospect taking on the old guard. Divij Sharan has been disappointed with the progress he has been making what with his peers (Rastogi, Shokeen and ilk) moving on with him left wallowing in the wake. He looked to leapfrog from the junior mindset to the cutting edge sharpness the seniors demand with an impressive 6-4 6-2 humbling of sixth seed Vijay Kanan.
Given the pressure involved, the tennis on display in the Rastogi-Shokeen match was hardly sublime. It would fluctuate between brilliance to the downright hare-brained. Vivek was obviously in awe of the man across the mesh and that’s what eventually choked his flow even if he is the more gifted in ease of stroking. Rastogi, one who is least comfortable on grass, did well to keep his nerve at the moments when pressure turned to crunch. All the yoga he does seems to be paying off.
The glare is not going to pare down in the near future too as Thursday has him up against the other big mauler, Sanam Singh. The match will make for some fireworks. Sanam comes riding the wave that saw him tame the field at the $10,000 Futures last week while Rastogi too has the boost of beating the best of India in the challenge tournament to grab a wild card for the qualifying of the ATP event at Rotterdam next year. Sanam had to claw his way past a rampant Navdeep Singh
7-5 7-6 (4) to set up his quarterfinal duel with Rastogi.
Meanwhile, the ladies chugged along merrily with hardly a ripple in the draw. All eight seeds cruised into the quarters and the level of competition can be gauged from the fact that five of them won at least one set each without conceding a game.
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