Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Prakash Amritraj and his cousin Stephen went down 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6 after a brave fight against Spanish duo of Albert Portas and Lopez Moron in the first round of doubles match in the Tata Open Tennis Championship here today.
The wild card duo of Prakash and Stephen, sons of Indian tennis legends Vijay and Anand Amritraj respectively, came back strongly in the second set, but lost their rhythm in the third to be outplayed by the Spaniards.
A brief interruption owing to power failure at the start of the third set also seemed to have upset their rhythm as they made a series of unforced errors while the Spaniards also raised their game when it really mattered.
Portas and Moron quickly went 5-0 up in the decider breaking both Prakash and Stephen with ease. The Amritrajs briefly threatened to stage yet another come back by breaking Portas in the seventh game, but it turned out to be too late.
The Amritrajs, who have had a successful time in the junior circuit, gave a good account of themselves, and put their rivals under pressure with attacking play. Prakash, India’s No.1 singles player, served more effectively compared to US-based Stephen, but both combined well.
In the first two sets, the Spaniards shone in patches with Moron being the weak link and hitting several returns wayward, but Portas made up for his partner’s lapses by coming up with good shots at crucial stages.
The Amritrajs did well to fight back after conceding an early break in third game of the first set with Stephen serving. After conceding a break point, Stephen hit his forehand into the net as the Spaniards went up 1-2. The lone break was enough for them to take the set.
The Indo-US duo came close to breaking Moron in the second game of the second set, holding a break point after Prakash and Stephen played some delightful shots from close to the net. The games went on serve till the seventh when Stephen was broken. The inexperience of the Amritrajs came to the fore as they messed up a couple of easy chances to allow the Spaniards to go up 4-3.
However, they broke Moron in the 10th game and took the set to the tie-break. After leading 4-3, the Amritrajs yielded ground as the scores were 6-6. With Portas serving, Stephen came up with a superb return and a forehand smash to take the set. Portas, who could not return the last point, hit the ball out of the court in disappointment, prompting chair umpire to issue a warning.
