National champion V. M. Ranjeet survived two matchpoints to beat Seung-Jae Lee of Korea 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(8) in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
Ranjeet was teased by the Korean, ranked 1638 in the world. In the end, what clinched it for Ranjeet was his ability to attack in the climax despite the pressure of facing the matchpoints.
Ranjeet could have sewed up the match in straight sets, but he lost his way from 6-3, 4-2. Even in the third set, Ranjeet was a break up at 3-1. In the decisive tie-break, played after a gap of more than two hours as rain had intervened, Ranjeet saved the two matchpoints with a forehand down the line and a crisp volley.
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He missed a matchpoint at 7-6 with an extravagant shot, but smacked a forehand down the line on his second matchpoint for a memorable victory.
“I should have won in straight sets, but he played good tennis. I was happy with the way I played the tie-break, though I started it badly,” said Ranjeet who had put a sitter overhead into the net on the first point of the tie-break.
In the quarterfinals, Ranjeet will meet a familiar opponent, the champion of last week, the third-seeded Young-Jun Kim. The Korean taught a few lessons on the art of slicing to Rupesh Roy in racing away for the loss of one game.
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The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Vishnu Vardhan bt Vijayant Malik 6-4, 6-2; Peter Lucassen (Ned) bt Johnny Arcilla (Phi) 6-0, 6-2; Young-Jun Kim (Kor) bt Rupesh Roy 6-0, 6-1; V. M. Ranjeet bt Seung-Jae Lee 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(8); Jae-Won Choi (Kor) bt Rohan Gajjar 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Krishananth Balakrishnan (Aus) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-3, 6-3; Chris Eaton (GBR) bt Kyle Brassington (GBR) 6-2, 6-2; Yuki Bhambri bt Shane La Porte (US) 6-2, 1-0 (retired).
Doubles (quarterfinals): Ashutosh Singh & Vishnu Vardhan bt Yew-Ming Si (Mas) & Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) 6-4, 7-6(3); Tim Bradshaw & Max Jones (GBR) bt Rohan Gajjar & Karan Rastogi 7-5, 6-3; Rupesh Roy & Vivek Shokeen bt Vijayant Malik & Akash Wagh 1-6, 6-1, 10-3; Young-Jae Kim & Young-Jun Kim (Kor) bt Seong-Yoon Chung & Seung-Jae Lee (Kor) 6-3, 3-6, 10-5.