Top seeds Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan rejoiced the victory on the first day one of the Match Point Tennis Academy ITF men’s Futures tennis championship at the hard courts of the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Rohtak at Haryana on Monday.
The No. 1 seed Saurabh Patil lost the first set by 6-1 against Balaji. In the second, he lagged behind by 4-1. Apparently, he never trusted his backhand which often ran around to hit the ball.
Meanwhile, Balaji did not hesitate to advance towards the net which paid off as he got some easy shots to put away. Balaji, who tripped eight places in the latest ATP rankings to 337th last week, sneaked past fellow country mate Sagar Ahuja by 7-6(4), 6-1 in the second round. The 23-year-old was tested in the commencing set with both players serving robustly and occupying the court well. The game marched into a tie-breaker in which the number one seed outwitted Sagar.
The colour went out of Sagar’s game during the second one. Balaji, who was seeded second in Chandigarh ITF Futures and was disappointed in the quarterfinals by Saketh Myneni, bubbled in confidence, hitting razor-sharp groundstrokes and moving well on both sides of the court. However Myneni later continued to win the title. Notably, he broke Sagar’s serve regularly to win the second set at 6-1. Balaji will now lock horns with a tough rival in fifth seed Vijayant Malik in the quarterfinals. Vijayant had ousted the top seed Yuki Bhambri in the quarterfinals of the Chandigarh ITF Futures and eventually arrived at the final, after losing to Saketh Myneni. Previously, Balaji sneaked past Lakshit Sood in straight sets by 6-3, 6-4 in the commencing round.
On the other hand, second seed Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan comfortably carried the first set against Shahbaaz Khan. However the latter could never produce a long lasting decent play.
Jeevan essayed an on-the-run forehand that hit just enough to catch the line. The wrongly aimed forehand added to Shahbaaz’s despair in the second while Jeevan danced home by taking the set by 6-3. Jeevan marched into the last eight stage, accounting for Sagar Manjanna by 6-1, 6-0. He now plays with Anvit Bendra who put it across Arpit Sharma by 6-3, 6-4.
