Chennai: Hot favourite Srichaphan Paradorn of Thailand scripted a 6-2, 6-1 win over
underrated youngster, Jene Rene Isnard of France to set up a title clash against
Slovakian, Karol Kucera in the ATP tour Tata Indian Open
Tennis Championship on Saturday.
Earlier, Kucera scored a memorable 6-3, 7-5 win to scalp fourth seeded Juan Ignacio
Chela of Argentina in the first semi-finals. This will be Kucrea's first title hunt
after crowning himself with the title in 1999 in Basil (Switzerland)
and first title appearance in three visits to this city since 1999.
Kucera, who was ranked sixth in the world in 1998, had beaten Andre Agassi in the
quarter-finals, Kaifer in the semi-finals and defeated Tim Henman, the defending
champion in the final in the Basil tournament in 1999.
The Slovakian, who caused a few ripples in his heyday, was modest and said "I might
have been somebody five years ago. But it was a tough game on Saturday, a close
match. Nobody wants to lose easily and I had to fight back'.
On head to head count, Kucera had bitten the dust against Srichaphan on both
occasions last season.
In the match between Paradorn and Lisnard, the latter, who had withered the storm
against highly rated players like Kristian Pless of Denmark in the first round and
who beat sixth seeded Rainer Schuttler of Germany on Friday, was no match for the
Asian games gold medallist.
Lisnard did put pressure on Paradorn, the pre-tournament favourite, in the
second set. Paradorn stayed cool and was not perturbed, as he played a
composed game throughout the match. After taking the first set rather easily at 6-2,
Paradorn, who has creditable wins against former world number one, Gustavo Kuerten,
Marat Safin, Andre Agassi and current world number one, Lleyton Hewitt- all in
straight sets this year - had no difficulty in keeping
away the French rival.
Trailing by a 0-4 margin, Lisnard held his fifth game. Paradorn held his own before
winning the match with three match points on Lisnard's serve. He bowed to the crowd
in the Thai tradition, after 50 minutes of authoritative play, before leaving court.
PTI
