The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Nam beats Jeevan in a tight match; Ashutosh crashes out

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Nam beats Jeevan in a tight match; Ashutosh crashes out

Sports Reporter

CHENNAI: After opening with instant, straight-set skirmishes, the second day of the ITF-Futures tournament at Gandhinagar Club here laid emphasis on protraction and elongation, with one match extending beyond the psychologically exhausting three-hour mark and another contest that pledged to go the distance, clipped to a premature conclusion by injury.

Braving the oppressiveness on Court-2, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan fell short of Korean Hyun-Woo Nam on crucial points. The three-hour-nine-minute slugfest began with neither willing to yield an inch. Jeevan bagged the first set in a competitive tie-break and carried the good touch into the second, breaking Nam early for a 2-0 lead. Nam promptly broke back to get things back on serve and then dismantled Jeevan’s down-the-T deliveries in the ninth game to make it a set apiece.

The decider followed a fluctuating course with the players trading breaks before Jeevan double-faulted to hand Nam a 6-5 lead. The Korean did not miss a beat in the next game, holding serve when it mattered most to seal the match.

Eventful day

Post-match camaraderie notwithstanding, it was also a day of tantrums and time-outs.

Ashutosh Singh swatted the ball with disdain to steal the first set tie-break from P.C. Vignesh. Down a set, but with a few tricks up his sleeve, Vignesh’s racquet-throwing antics were not taken too kindly by a distracted Ashutosh who gave up the second set without a fight. Hampered by a troublesome forearm and down a break early on in the third, Ashutosh took a medical time-out and then decided to concede what had promised to be an absorbing contest.

Earlier, an iffy and indecisive V.M. Ranjeet let Sunil Kumar Sipaeya off the hook several times before topping him in three sets. Down 0-40 and 2-5 in the decider, Sunil hit two forehand winners and went on to hold his serve. Unaffected by his opponent’s resurgence, Ranjeet served out the match in the next game.

“Both of us were serving really well and I had to scale my game up a notch to get through,” said Ranjeet after the match. He faces an old adversary — Vinod Sridhar — in the next round who, he confesses, has beaten him on most occasions “except for the last time we met.”

In other matches, top seed Peter Gojowczyk of Uzbekistan did not break a sweat while sweeping aside Tushar Liberhan in straight sets.

Second seed Alexey Kedriuk of Kazakhstan too coasted to an easy win over Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

The results: First round: Aqueel Khan ( Pak) bt Christopher Marquis ( Ind) 7-5, 6-2; I–Ta Chen (Tpe) bt Chandril Sood 6-3, 6-2; V. M. Ranjeet bt Sunil Kimar Sipaeya 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) bt Tushan Liberhan 6-2, 6-1; Hsin Han Lee (Tpe) bt Palash Tiwari 6-2, 6-3; Hyun–Woo Nam (Kor) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-7 ( 5), 6-4, 7-5; P. C. Vignesh bt Ashutosh Singh 6-7 (2), 6-3, 3-1 retired; Alexey Kedriuk (Kaz) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-3, 6-4; Rupesh Roy bt Ronak Manuja 6-3, 6-1; Divij Sharan bt Ankit Suchdeva 6-2, 6-3; Rohan Gajjar bt Vijayant Malik 7-5, 6-2.

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