November 4: The second day of the Sahara Asia Cup saw some explosive tennis. Vasu (Vasudeva Reddy) started it all by playing some fabulous tennis. He was down 1-4 in the first set and suddenly got really hot and reeled off the next 11 games in a row against Wibowo.

With a talented player like him, you never know when he can produce such scintillating stuff. And I hope, with more experience and hard work, he would produce more of such stuff. Even though he won the first singles for India A, the others failed to capitalise on his superb win. It was a surprise to see Vikram Venkatraghavan play the second singles, considering that he had to play doubles soon after. Vishaal Uppal should have played the second singles.

Despite Gaurav Natekar's experience, I didn't see him and Vikram take charge of the doubles match. The Indonesian pair dictated terms right through and won rather convincingly. But they should not get disheartened as there is a lot of talent that can be nurtured.

The teams who have already qualified for the semifinals are Uzbekistan, South Korea, Indonesia along with us. The Uzbeks beat the Filipinos 3-0 and only had a close match in the first singles.

Korea had a comfortable win over Chinese Taipei. They once again rested their number one player Yong-Il Yoon. Both singles were won comfortably but their doubles match was stretched to a tie-breaker in the first set.

As far our match goes, it was nice to see Sandeep consolidating his spot as a singles player by beating the Thai Virat, losing just four games.It was a dominating performance from him and his win yesterday gave him a lot of confidence for today's match. He was in total control right from the first point and played very smart at times. It is great to see the hard work he put in paying off.

Mahesh Bhupathi went off to an explosive start and did not drop even a game against Vittaya. He hasn't played much singles for a while so I am sure that he would be pleased with the performance today. He was firing at all cylinders and it is simply fantastic to see a big hitter from our country.I teamed up with Nitin Kirtane for the first time in a match and it was an enjoyable experience. Nitin has good touch. And for me, I had a decent workout today and am looking forward to our match against Uzbekistan.

Since we have already qualified for the semifinals, it is just a matter of placings, as to whom we meet in the round of four, depending on tomorow's results.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.