A Shabash for Shahbaaz Khan

After an impressive run at the Asian Juniors, Shahbaaz Khan wants to test his big serve on the Wimbledon greens.

By Mridubha Kumar & Bhagya L Ayyavoo

A giant-killer was on the prowl at the Asian Junior Tennis Championships in New Delhi. Shahbaaz Khan made headlines this week when he upset 10th-seeded Yuki Maramatsu of Japan in the opener and later Uzbekistan's Artem Tarasov.

The 17-year-old Mumbai lad's run was finally stopped by Ronit Bisht in the pre-quarterfinal at the RK Khanna Stadium on Thursday.

Shahbaaz' dream run began when be bounced back to knock out Yuki 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. Going back to the match against Yuki, who is close to 300 places above him, the big-serving Shahbaaz said: "There was no will to win initially. I was very lazy and I kept missing all the shots. But I knew I can win if I stop missing. In the second and third set I started concentrating more, got my big serves in and they worked. When my serve comes I am more confident and I try to be more aggressive."

On Day 2, the big-serving Tarasov fell to Shahbaaz's new-found appetite. "Win over Yuki boosted my confidence. But I was trying to whack everything in the first game. And that helped him (Tarasov). He liked it coming with a lot of pace. And, I lost my first game 0-40. Tarasov's serves are big and he went up 2-0 in no time."

Soon Shahbaaz figured out that the trick was to "keep rallying and not give him any pace". It worked, as he accounted for the youngster from Uzbekistan 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Fifth-seeded Ronit, however, ended the Khan show the following day. The Mumbaikar managed to seal the first set in the tiebreak, but 14-year-old Ronit, having never lost a match to Shahbaaz in recent times, registered a marvelous turnaround to triumph 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-2.

"In the second set, my legs were too sore and I was just trying to finish off the points too early and started missing," said a dejected Shahbaaz after the match.

Shahbaaz now has his sights set on the Wimbledon junior event. "This tournament was important for me. I was trying to win this. Unfortunately it didn't happen. I have to at least win a Grade 1 tournament abroad to boost my ranking. This is my last year in the junior circuit. If I do well there I can play the Grand Slams (junior)," concluded Shahbaaz, who is ranked No.546.