NEW DELHI, Feb 6: Vijay Kannan inched closer towards achieving his goal of getting into junior Grand Slam Tournaments this year with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Jacob Paulsen (Denmark) in the final of the ITF Junior Ranking (under-18) tournament here today.Earlier, Uzma Khan won the girls title when she stopped unseeded Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3. The top seed thus won the title without losing a set.
A confident Uzma raced through the first set as the 14-year-old Austrian appeared out of sorts, unable to keep pace with the Hyderabadi.
In the second, Uzma began struggling with her serve -- she had three double faults in the first -- and Yvonne grabbed the opportunity to go a break up. Uzma pulled herself together to break back in the very next. None of them could hold serve till the sixth as Uzma sprayed returns all over while Yvonne had a tough time serving.
In the seventh, Uzma managed to hold at love and then won the next two win her second title on the trot. The first title was inColombo.
In the boys' final, seventh-seeded Kannan was a bundle of nerves initially but his will to win, after losing the first set, earned him 30 ITF points. The 18-year-old DHAITA trainee seemed to be in a hurry which manifested itself in his poor rhythm and numerous unforced errors.
He survived two of his service games, but in the fifth he faced three break points and dropped serve when he sent a return wide. That opened the doors for the Dane, seeded sixth, who kept the pressure on and served out the first set.
Kannan's fighting qualities came to the fore in the second. He was much more focussed and cut down on unforced errors. He engaged Paulsen in long rallies with his powerful forehand and backhand slices. Paulsen, too, had enough variety which helped him hold the first game. But after that it was Kannan who punched holes in the Dane's game to reel off the next six games.
In the decider, Kannan was in a spot after losing the third game. He did not let that poor game worry him and broke rightback and did not allow Paulsen another game, wrapping up the match with an ace.
The caravan now moves to Chandigarh for the next leg from Monday. Uzma, who has been given direct entry, has been granted permission to join the Fed Cup camp after the tournament.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
