Fifth-seeded Ivan Gakhov of Russia scored a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over Sidharth Rawat in a first-round match of the Vasan Eye Care-ITF Futures tournament at the Union Club here on Monday.
A solitary break in the third game was enough for Gakhov to take the opening set. The second set saw five breaks of serve in the first six games. From 4-2, Rawat managed two holds to pocket the set.
Rawat’s momentum saw him go up 5-4 on serve in the decider.
However, the Russian, found his rhythm just in time and hit some lovely winners to reel off the next three games to clinch the set and match.
The results: First round: Loic Perret (Sui) bt Christopher Marquis 6-4, 7-6(8); Ivan Gakhov (Rus) bt Sidharth Rawat 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Ronit Singh Bisht 6-1, 6-3; Lakshit Sood bt Fahad Mohammed 6-3, 6-2; Yannick Thivant (Fra) bt Shahbaaz Khan 6-4, 6-3; Anvit Bendre bt Sasi Kumar Mukund 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles: Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha & P.C. Vignesh bt N. Sriram Balaji & V.M. Ranjeet 3-6, 6-3, 10-7; Neeraj Elangovan & Jessy Kalambay (Sui) bt Rahul Robinson Manoah & Arjun Ramakrishnan 6-3, 6-7(3), 10-6; Matias Castro & Matias Franco Descotte (Arg) bt Sagar Ahuja & Jatin Dahiya 6-1, 7-6(5); Chandril Sood & Lakshit Sood bt Thomas Brechemier & Yannick Thivant (Fra) 6-0, 6-2.
Kunal Anand & Ronit Singh Bisht bt Christopher Marquis & Kelsey Stevenson (Can) 6-3, 6-2; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Ivan Gakhov & Mikhail Korovin (Rus) 6-3, 6-4.
