Prakash Amritraj won his final qualifying round against German Lars Poerschke 7-6(5), 6-3 to progress to the main draw of the Chennai Open. However, Yuki Bhambri fell at the final hurdle, going down 2-6, 7-6(6), 2-6 to Louk Sorensen of Israel.
Prakash found himself a break down in the first set but managed to break the German back to take the set to a tie-break. A clutch of tight points went the Indian’s way and he went one-up.
The second set went on serve for the first few games but Prakash by then had managed to get his serve going. And when Lars faltered on his, Prakash put the contest to bed.
The Indian will face off against Michael Russell of the United States in his first round match on Tuesday.
Speaking after the contest, Prakash said that his “game got better with each qualifying round.”
Prakash also said that it was best for his game if he continued practising in the United States, but playing for India in the Davis Cup was also one of his priorities.
“It makes no sense if I am playing for my country but my game remains the same.”
Prakash said he was trying to work out a way to play for the country while still based in the United States. “That would be a win-win situation” he said.
Poor start
Yuki Bhambri, who got off to a cold start by losing the first set to Sorensen, infused his game with some measure of consistency to take the contest to a decider after winning the second set tie-break.
The visibly tired Yuki ghosted through the third set, hardly putting up any resistance as Sorensen ran away with the contest.
The results (qualifiers, final round): Prakash Amritraj (Ind) bt Lars Poerschke (Ger) 7-6(5), 6-3; Tsung-Hua Yang (Tpe) bt Dustin Brown (Jam) 6-2, 7-5; Louk Sorensen (Irl) bt Yuki Bhambri (Ind) 6-2, 6-7(6-8), 6-2; James Ward (GBR) bt Noam Okun (Isr) 6-2, 6-3.
