Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan defeated his friend and practice partner Vijay Sundar Prashanth 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the MCC-S.R. Subramaniam Memorial International Tennis Federation men’s Futures tournament here on Thursday.
In the semifinals, Jeevan will take on giant-killer Tak Khunn Wang of France, who put it across sixth-seeded Vijayant Malik 6-3, 6-1.
Third-seeded Jeevan has been playing a consistent baseline game in the tournament. Against Vijay he certainly wasn’t at his best, but played the crucial points better.
Lacking intensity
The contest lacked intensity as both players adopted a waiting game. Vijay broke Jeevan in the fifth and seventh games to pocket the first set.
However, Jeevan came back strongly in the second, playing his customary solid backcourt play.
He broke Vijay in the fourth and sixth games to take the match into the decider.
Jeevan grew in confidence in the decider, belting out winners even as Vijay continued to make unforced errors. Once he broke serve in the fifth game, Jeevan raced to victory.
Thales Turini of Brazil had to dig deep to beat V.M. Ranjeet 6-3, 5-7, 6-0.
The results:
Men’s singles (quarterfinals): Victor Crivoi (Rou) bt Elwin Antony (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; Thales Turini (Bra) bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-3, 5-7, 6-0; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; Tak Khunn Wang (Fra) bt Vijayant Malik 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles (semifinals): N. Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Ting Yu Chuang & Chih-Jen Ho (Tpe) 6-3, 6-3; Arata Onozawa (Jpn) & Arun-Prakash Rajagopalan bt Jui-Chen Hung (Tpe) & Petar Tomic (Srb) 7-5, 6-4.
