CHENNAI: India's Purav Raja and Divij Sharan gave Chennai fans a lot to cheer about by storming into the doubles finals on Friday with a fluent 6-4, 6-2 over the Argentine pair of Guillermo Duran and Andres Molteni.
Later on, the icing on the cake came in the form of Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who showed their class in the second doubles semifinals with a clinical 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Nicholas Monroe (USA) and Artem Sitak (New Zealand), thus setting up an all-Indian final for the first time in the history of the Chennai Open.
Bopanna proved why he was the best Indian men’s doubles player in the world. For Nedunchezhiyan, this was his best performance so far at the Open. Both were delighted to be in the final, and believed their right-left combination was working.
“I played aggressively and that’s one of the reasons for our good show,” said Bopanna.
Jeevan, meanwhile, believed he played to his strength, and that was the key to his success. “It augers well for the tournament that two Indian pairs reached the final. Their (Divij and Purav) triumph over Leander and Andre Sa was the turning point, and they kept improving from there,’’ said CEO of TNTA Hiten Joshi.
About five Indian pairs took part in the tournament and two of them have done well. With the India singles story being the same every year, the question now is whether youngsters now lean more towards doubles.
They will still dream of being like a Federer or Nadal, but they would know in their back of their minds that a more successful future may lie in doubles.
“Yes, youngsters may tend to be more doubles-oriented, as we have a good record (Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Bopanna) in doubles in recent times. But I would advice the children not to neglect singles,” explained Joshi, who has conducted several workshops at the grassroot level for TNTA, and also organised the TATE programme to nurture young talents.
Purav Raja believed that it was great to enter the final, and will not put pressure on themselves, treating the match like any other. “Obviously, it’s great to be in a finalm as we’ve worked hard. We have played regularly in Challengers, and whenever we do get an opportunity, we try to perform our best in an ATP event,’’ said Raja.
But former tennis ace Vijay Amritraj cautions that for youngsters to evolve as players, singles is of paramount importance. “You have to first do well in singles in order to be known as a good tennis player. Once you do well in singles, you can start thinking of doubles,’’ said Vijay, taking time off from commentary.
“Youngsters should not neglect singles at any cost. You’ve to be trained in the right way from a very young age,’’ added the legend.
As if taking clue from Vijay’s words, Daniil Medvedev, 20, defeated veteran Dudi Sela of Israel 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in a marathon semifinal.
ashok.v@newindianexpress.com