THE GLORIOUS BASTERDS

It’s Sunday night and 43 minutes past 9 pm… 3 spectators including one coach and one tournament director are still watching… they have moved from the stands to the doubles tramlines… And there’s one glorious basterd left standing…. And surprisingly it’s not a Ramchandani…

27 year old software professional Phillips Eapen came from Chembur to compete with South Mumbai’s best on their home turf and ended up creating history. Phillips became the first non-Ramchandani and the first unseeded player to win an AATP title and he did it in style… also becoming the first player to beat the top 3 seeds on the AATP tour. Camping at the net, Phillips brought back memories of what was once known as serve-n-volley tennis to upset Dr. Malpani 6-3 in the quarter finals, then avenged his round robin loss to Bharat 8-6 in the semis and saved his best for the last for a tightly fought 6-7, 6-2, 10-8 win over top-seeded Haresh

Playing his conservative game was good enough to get junior Ramchandani into his fourth final in a row on tour but for the second consecutive time he was unable to convert a one seat lead. Brother Bharat looked ominous early on including a comprehensive 6-2 win over Phillips in the round robin but paid the price for lack of fitness and late night boozing as he wilted under the heat of Phillips’ stinging net play, failing to keep his date for Brochandani Act IV.

There was plenty else to write home about – Ayaz Vasi returned from his marital break and managed to reach the semis losing to Haresh 3-8; Dr. Malpani put up another impressive show making the quarterfinals but was beaten by Philips after leading 3-1 in their match; Ashutosh avenged his loss to Nimesh in last time’s Challenger round with a close fought 7-5 win but was unable to match Ayaz slice for slice going down 1-6 in the quarters; Jonty Kandpal was his usual fiery best beating dark horse Rizwan Sumar in a tight round robin match but was unable to find the same form in his 2-6 loss to Haresh in the last eight. And Suvir Shah managed to come out of the shadows of his more successful school mates to beat tour debutante Naren Shukla 6-2 and then played sublime tennis against Dr. Malpani; coming from 0-4 down, the southpaw managed to level their set at 4-4 but was unable to deliver the knock put punch as Doc won 6-4. For the record, Suvir was beaten 2-6 by Bharat in their quarter-final.

First round losers included newcomer Naren who was beaten easily by Suvir and then by Doc in their Battle of the 40 year olds; Nimesh was beaten by Haresh once again and then by Ashutosh in a heartbreaker; another tour debutante Raja Padia was double-bageled by Philips and Bharat; but it was Rizwan Sumar who stole the headlines early on. From breaking his racket to complaining to organizers; and from abusing his opponent to having a one-on-one side chat with him, Rizwan stole the show on Day 1, albeit not with his play. Close losses to Jonty and Ayaz means he will have to wait for next year to win his first AATP title but that did not stop him from coming back to cheer for his comrades on Sunday and Monday; Sumar is still in line for the AATP Enthusiast of the Year award.

The organizing committee came under some flak too; from doctoring the seedings and rigging the draws to giving into player demands for match schedules and making Haresh play five different sessions (anything to get a new champion and make the tour more interesting we’re guessing); HareAsh left a lot to be desired. But I believe the drum rolls of complaint have reached their ears and they have promised to ensure Season II Part II will be better… Until then, from one glorious basterd to another… it’s Advantge Eapen.