Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan flung his racquet in a fit of rage and it flew like a saucer to the other end of the court.
The third seed’s frustration was evident after his 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 defeat to qualifier Antoine-Michel Alexeev of Switzerland in the pre-quarterfinals of the MCC-S.R. Subramaniam memorial International Tennis Federation men’s Futures tournament at the Madras Cricket Club courts here on Wednesday.
Alexeev will next meet V.M. Ranjeet, seeded seventh, who put it across Sidharth Rawat 7-6(1), 6-4.
In the most interesting match of the evening, N. Sriram Balaji, seeded two, pulled off a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win over qualifier Mikhail Korovin of Russia in two hours and 18 minutes. Sriram will now play Yannick Thivant of France, who outlasted R. Suraj Prabodh 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3. In other action, Karunuday Singh lost to M. Descotte of Argentina 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
In fact, Jeevan had a head start in the decider, breaking the Swiss’ serve in the second game to take a 3-0 lead, on the back of sound service games and percentage baseline play.
Alexeev, who is ranked 1786 places below at 2120, hit back in style, breaking Jeevan’s serve in the fifth sixth and seventh games with impressive winners from the backcourt.
However, the all-important break for the Swiss came in the eleventh game when Jeevan double-faulted at 30-40 which made him lose his cool. Alexeev then closed out the match at love.
Meanwhile, top seed Saketh Myneni, Vijay Sundar Prashanth, the fourth seed and Ivan Gakhov of Russia, seeded fifth, all cruised to the quarterfinals.
The results:
Singles (Pre-quarterfinals, Indians unless otherwise mentioned): Antoine-Michel Alexeev (Sui) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Matias Franco Descotte (Arg) bt Karunuday Singh 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Loic Perret (Sui) 6-4, 6-3; Saketh Myneni bt Elwin Antony 6-2, 6-1; Yannick Thivant (Fra) bt Suraj R Prabodh 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3; Ivan Gakhov (Rus) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 6-1, 6-1; V. M. Ranjeet bt Sidharth Rawat 7-6(1), 6-4; N. Sriram Balaji bt Mikhail Korovin (Rus) 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Anvit Bendre & Akash Wagh bt Christopher Marquis & Karunuday Singh 6-2, 1-6 (10-8); Chandril Sood & Lakshit Sood bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 6-3, 5-7 (10-7); P. Vignesh & Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha bt Sagar Ahuja & Jatin Dahiya 6-2, 7-6(5).