Seventh-seeded Ashwin Vijayaraghavan of India rallied from a set down to defeat compatriot Sudanwa Sitaram 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-1 in a crucial pre-quarterfinal clash of the $10,000 LMW-ITF Futures tennis tournament at the Perks Tennis Centre here on Wednesday.
Sitaram, who is on a holiday from the United States, won the first set rather easily. For a moment, one thought the match would be over in quick time. But, Ashwin had faith in his ability. He displayed that well in the two sets that followed.
The 22-year-old got the forehand working to his liking and forced a tie-breaker in the second, but not before passing a stern test. Sitaram pushed him to the limit with some clever crosscourt returns. He also used the net wisely to gain a strong advantage in the form of a double matchpoint at 5-4. But Ashwin remained undeterred.
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Telling returns
He read the situation calmly and answered it well with some telling forehand returns to take the set into the tie-breaker. And with Sitaram hitting a couple of balls wide, it was easy for Ashwin to steer the match into the decider.
Ashwin did go through some anxious moments in the final set. Sitaram enjoyed three break points in the third but blew it yet again much to the relief of the former. Ashwin never gave an inch thereafter and proceeded confidently to seal the set and match 6-1.
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“The match was his today but I am glad that I won,” said Ashwin. “He is a very competitive player. He made me move a lot. I tried to attack at the start but it wasn’t working so I decided to take the pace off the ball. It slowed him and worked in my favour,” he added.
The other seeds in the fray — R.V. Murugesan, Saketh Myneni, Suk-Young Jeong, N.V. Sundar Prashanth, Hyun-Woo Nam, Karunday Singh and Zach Itzstein, unlike Ashwin — had an easy day out in the round of 16.
The results (Indians unless stated): Singles: Pre-quarterfinals: Ashwin Vijayaraghavan bt Sudanwa Sitaram 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-1; Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Tejas Chaukulkar 6-0, 6-1; Suk-Young Jeong (Kor) bt Abhijeet Tiwari 6-1, 6-1; Karunday Singh bt Vivek Shokeen 7-6(2), 7-5; V.M. Ranjeet bt Yang Lu 6-1, 6-0; Zach Itzstein (Aus) bt Ajai Selvaraj 6-3, 6-3; Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) bt J. Seol 6-2, 6-2; Saketh Myneni bt Vigneshwaran Ramesh 6-1, 6-0.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Vijay Sundar & K.V. Sharma bt Elwin Antony & Fariz Mohd. 6-4, 6-1; Saketh Myneni & A.P. Rajagopalan bt Hyun-Woo Nam & Jae-Min Sol (Kor) 6-2, 6-3; Suk-Young Jeong & Seong-Gook Oh (Kor) bt Abhijeet Tiwari & Ashwin 7-6(2), 6-1; Vivek Shokeen & Sudanwa Sitaram bt Kunal Anand & Ajai Selvaraj 3-6,7-5, 10-4.