Saturday, April 07, 2018

Tennis News

At Davis Cup 2018 - Asia / Oceania 2nd Round, Tianjin, China

India bt China 3-2

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) l Yibing Wu (CHN,332) 67(4) 46
[R2] Sumit Nagal (IND,213) l Ze Zhang (CHN,247) 46 16

Day Two
[R3] Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Leander Paes (IND) bt Mao-Xin Gong (CHN)/ Ze Zhang (CHN) 57 76(5) 76(3)
[R4] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) bt Di Wu (CHN,248) 76(4) 63
[R5] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,263) bt Yibing Wu (CHN,332) 64 62

What a comeback win by Indian team ... After first day, many of the fans written off our chances (including yours truly) of a win ... On the second day in the doubles, until late of the second set Chinese were in a control ... We were couple of points away (3-5 second set tie-break) from 0-3 drubbing for the first time in the Davis cup history in hands of the Chinese team ... But somehow our pair hangs there and dug really deep to fightback and won the doubles tie ... This was Lee's record breaking 43rd Davis cup doubles victory ... After that Mahesh's motivation made a charm as RamK defeated Di Wu after some hiccups in the middle to square the tie ... For the final rubber, Mahesh took a huge call and brought Prajnesh in place of Sumit ... Prajnesh played almost faultless tennis and dismantled Yibing ... Prajnesh solid start put pressure on Yibing and he never recovered from that ... So another chance for us playing in World group Play-off in September.

The Chinese changed a combination for the doubles and added in-form Ze Zhang in the place of Di Wu ... In the first set, we were early break up at 4-1 ... Chinese pair broke Lee in the 7th game to make it 4-all ... They again broke Lee in the 11th game, 5-6, and held after saving a break point for winning the set ... In the second set, we were up 2-0 but again Lee lost his serve, 2-1 ... Afterwards, both pairs held their respective service games, in the 12th game we missed couple of set points ... In the tie-break, Chinese took a mini-break on the 8th point for 3-5 but our pair showed their experience winning next 4 points, winning the 10th and the 11th points on Chinese serve, to take the match into the decider ... In the final set, we took an early 3-1 lead but this time Rohan lost his serve in the 6th game for 3-all ... After that both pairs held their respective service games for another tie-break ... We took a control from the start, we had a mini-break on the 1st point to lead 3-0 ... Then took another mini-break on the 9th point for 6-3 lead and converted the first match point for the important win ... With this doubles win Leander completes the most Davis cup doubles victories in the history.

In the fourth match, RamK faced Di Wu ... RamK started breaking Di in the 1st game to lead 2-0 ... After that RamK saved few break points on his service games ... He again broke Di in the 7th game to lead 5-2 and suddenly from here RamK's lost his focus ... He lost his serve twice while serving for the set in the 8th and the 10 the games, 5-all ... After that both players held their service game for taking in the tie-break ... RamK recovered and controlled the tie-break for winning the set ... In the second set, both players exchanged an early service breaks, twice ... RamK broke Di third time in the 6th game for taking 4-2 lead ... After that RamK held his service games twice for winning this rubber and bringing the tie to 2-all.

Mahesh took a very smart decision and introduced Prajnesh for the final rubber against in-form youngster Yibing Wu ... And Prajnesh delivered wholeheartedly in this match ... From the start he kept pressure on young Yibing, he broke Yibing in the 5th and the 7th games for 5-2 lead ... But lost his serve in the 8th game when serving for the set, Prajnesh held his serve in the 10th game for winning it ... Dominated start in the second set as Prajnesh broke Yibing in the 1st and thr 3rd games to lead 4-0 ... After that Prajnesh held his service games comfortably for memorable tie win for India.


At $150K+H Santaizi Challenger 2018, Taipei, Taiwan

[Q1] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) bt Wei-De Lin (TPE,1399) 76(2) 46 64
[Q1] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,677) l (5) Shiuchi Sekiguchi (JPN,456) 46 57
[Q1] Sriram Balaji (IND,631) l Ray Ho (TPE,UNR) 67(4) 63 16

[Q2] (6) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,520) vs Shao-Fan Liu (TPE,1255)

[R1] (4) Yuki Bhambri (IND,105) vs Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP,240)
[R1] (6) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,132) vs Qualifier
[R1] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,263) vs (PR) Saketh Myneni (IND,588)

Happy to see Yuki is still sticking to his plan of playing Santaizi challenger ... He will faced Spaniard Roberto Ortega-Olmedo ... RamK will facing an qualifier ... Prajnesh having a match against Saki.

In the qualifying, Sasi is seeded ... He started with a three sets win over local player Lin ... Facing another lower ranked local player in the second qualifying ... Vishnu lost against Sekiguchi in straight sets ... Junior WR #26 Ray Ho proved better against Bala, who lost in three sets.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was the happiest person when India managed to turn things around & scored a stunning come from behind unexpected 3-2 victory against China in an away tie & in the process Lee deservedly created the World Record! So happy the boys proved me wrong! It just showed that if Indian stalwarts- Leander, Mahesh & Rohan can put aside their ego & strive to achieve the best for India, they can make even the impossible-possible!!! Kudos also to Ram [who brought out his A game under pressure] & also to Prajnesh for playing exceptionally well! The talent of Indian juniors was never in doubt--but it is the transition from junior to senior where most of the bright talent has faltered. I am sure with the experience Lee, Hesh, Rohan not to forget Buji & Sania have - if they decide to help & guide our youngsters with their co-ordinated efforts, the day may not be far when India produces a Grand Slam Singles Champion! Congrats Team India once again!!!

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