Amritraj flatters to deceive

Anxiety finally caught up with Prakash Amritraj, as he failed to capitalize on the advantage of winning the first set and had to bow out in the second round of the Chennai Open on Wednesday.

The Indian started off aggressively against number two seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, but had to accept defeat at 6-3, 0-6, 4-6, with father Vijay Amritraj and his grandparents watching the game nervously from the sidelines.

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"I was on a high after the first game and did better today," said Amritraj after the game. "Hopefully I'll continue putting up a good show in future."

Amritraj, 22, matched Stepanek stroke for stroke in the first set and got the break in the fourth game to lead 3-1. Though he was a break point down in the next game, he stepped up to the challenge and won the game before proceeding to take the set.

In the second set, however, the Indian went for the overkill, rushing at the net a little too soon. What hurt most was not he was unable to put away the volleys. The Czech also stepped up his game from the baseline and started moving Amritraj around the court.

With the pressure mounting, the Indian also tried to experiment too much, going for a drop shot on break-point down, hitting the volleys long and conceded the set 6-0 with a double-fault.

"I didn't serve very well in the second set and was half a step cautious."

Amritraj struggled on his serve in the first game of the decider after Stepanek had gone 1-0 up, but played two brilliant rallies, one of them lasting for more than 20 strokes.

The Indian was right back into the contest. The match was now on. Empty seats had started filling in and the atmosphere was building up to a close third set.

The first serves were starting to plunge in, the best of which were two aces down the middle. But Amritraj couldn't keep up the pace with the Czech, who showed great variety on court.

After the first nine games went with serve, Stepanek finally broke the Indian's serve in the last game to take the set 6-4.

"I was really charged up in the third set. I tried to take the energy from the crowd and played well. But he proved to be better," said Amritraj.

Stepanek said after the game that he was happy to come through the tough challenge and congratulated his young opponent on the performance.

Amritraj will play doubles with Rohan Bopanna on Thursday, when they take on Yves Allegro and Michael Kohlmann in the first round.