Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan to face Leander Paes and M. Reyes-Varela in the quarter-finals of the doubles category.
Double Delight For India
The top-seeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan began their Tata Open campaign with a comprehensive victory over the Radu Albot (Maldova) -Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) pair. The Asian Games gold-medal winning duo racked up a total of 55 points, including four break points and 32 service points to complete a 6-1,6-2 thwarting of the visitors in under an hour.
Soon after, another pair involving an Indian registered a comprehensive win to advance to the second round. Leander Paes and M. Reyes-Varela (Mexico) routed D. Marrero (Spain) H. Podlipnik-Castillo (Chile) in straight sets in a little over one hour. The Indian-Mexican duo complemented each other very well as Varela was strong at the net with the volleys and Paes was serving well. They immediately Marrero and Castillo under immense pressure and forced loose shots out of them. The pair clinched the victory 6-3, 6-4
This means on Thursday, Bopanna and Sharan will lock horns with Paes and Varela for a birth in the semi-finals.
Kadhe Goes Down Fighting Against Djere
Wild card entrant, Arjun Kadhe’s tough tournament came to an end after a defeat in straight set to Serbia’s Laslo Djere in the first round of the men’s singles category.
In the first set, Kadhe started off well and was in the lead, until the late resurgence from Djere got the better of him. Djere’s vicious forheands down the court often left Kadhe motionless on the other end. He took the first set 7-5.
Kadhe gave a tougher fight in the second set. Both the players managed to hold onto their serves and forced the game into the tie-breaker. The story, however, remained the same as Kadhe’s higher percentage of unforced errors let him down and with a total of eight aces, two break points, and 53 service points, Djere won the tie-breaker 8-6 and closed the second set 7-6.
Saketh Myneni’s Pullout
Moments before his first round encounter against Frenchman Benoit Paire, India’s wild card qualifiers entrant, Saketh Myneni withdrew from the Tata Open Maharashtra. A left-foot injury was the reason cited for his pullout.
Credits- Tata Open.
Saketh fought his way to the main draw after beating Jason Jung first and then Egor Gerasimov in the qualifiers on two consecutive days. During his clash against Gerasimov, he complained of stiffness in his right arm during a medical time-out, but after the match, he stated that he is happy with his fitness level. He was replaced by Brazilian, Thiago Monteiro, courtesy of being the lucky loser in the qualifiers. Benoit Paire eventually bagged the contest in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-3
Bolleli Sends Istomin Packing
Earlier in the day, Italy’s Simone Bolelli defeated Uzbek Denis Istomin in 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets to storm into the next round. Istomin started the proceedings as he won the first game with an impressive service game by racking up two quick aces. Bolelli levelled the score in the next game with an equally good service game.
The Italian broke Istomin’s serve in the third game to take the lead for the first time in the match. Istomin seemed to have lost his concentration for a while as most of his returns traveled long. Bolelli then continued on his merry way and bagged the first set 6-4 in 32 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for the 32-year-old when he conceded a break point in the first game of the second set. Contrary to his performance in the match thus far, he gave Bolelli a run for his money in the next game when he had an opportunity to earn a break point. The 33-year-old Italian, however, bailed himself out with sublime slice return to Istomin’s backhand.
Bolelli piled on his misery by clinching his third break point in the seventh game of the tie. In the very next game, Istomin broke Bolelli’s serve, but it proved to be little too late as he went down 4-6 in the second set as well.
Second Day Results |
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- #TataOpen: Anderson Towers Over Karlovic To Lift Singles Title In Three Set Thriller - January 6, 2019
- #TataOpen : Bopanna And Sharan Crowned Champions On Dream Debut - January 6, 2019
- Tata Open Maharashtra: Simon Bows Out As Anderson Seals Final Berth - January 5, 2019
