Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popko defeated India’s Sanam Singh 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5) in a thriller in the first round of the $50,000 KPIT-MSLTA Challenger at the Balewadi Sports Complex’s centre court here on Monday.
Popko saved four match points in the second set tie-breaker before upstaging the Indian in a match that lasted two hours and 29 minutes. Kazakhstan’s No. 3 player Popko was erratic right through the encounter. He double faulted seven times, but also fired aces and winners when it mattered most.
Sanam Singh served and returned well and was ready to slug it out from the baseline on the hard court. Sanam, ranked as low as 608 in the men’s singles ATP list, sustained his aggressive approach in the third set tie-breaker, but Popko held his nerves and won the contest.
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The opening day of the Challenger — which will be an ATP mandate a prize-money-hospitality event from next year — also saw the host country’s two of the three wild card entry recipients, Vishnu Vardhan and Dhruv Sunish advance to the second round.
Awarded the wild card for becoming the No. 1 ranked player in the under-18 category, Dhruv prevailed over Siddharth Vishwakarma in three sets.
This victory has ensured Dhruv seven ATP points.
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Vishnu Vardhan shrugged off a stiff challenge posed by Visakhapatnam-based Kaza Vinayak Sharma to earn a meeting with Popko in the second round.
Sidharth Rawat who beat Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan is also assured of seven ATP points, a point less than than what a semifinalist in a $25,000 ITF Futures event gets. At least five Indians are certain of getting seven ATP points.
The results: First round: Men: Dmitry Popko (Kaz) bt Sanam Singh (Ind) 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5); Sidharth Rawat (Ind) bt Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (Ind) 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-2; Vishnu Vardhan (Ind) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (Ind) 7-6(2), 6-4; Dhruv Sunish (Ind) bt Siddharth Vishwakarma (Ind) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Sadio Doumbia (Fra) bt Sasi Kumar Mukund (Ind) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; Prajnesh Gunneswaran (Ind) bt Haadin Salim Bawa (Ind) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4; Luca Margaroli (Sui) bt Anvit Bendre (Ind) 6-3, 6-3.
Doubles: Nikola Milojevic (Srb) & Danilo Petrovic (Srb) bt Marc Giner (Esp) and Alexander Zhurbin (Rus) 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-4; Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (Ind) & Kaza Vinayak Sharma (Ind) bt Tejas Chaukulkar (Ind) & Jayesh Pungliya (Ind) 6-2, 6-4; Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (Ind) & Vijay Sundar Prashanth (Ind) bt Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan (Ind) & Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (Ind) 6-0, 6-4.