Gritty Saketh enters main draw

Gritty Saketh enters main draw

Pune: India’s Saketh Myneni underlined his credentials with a hard-earned 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4) win over Belarusian Egor Gerasimov to enter the main draw of the second edition of Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi complex tennis courts here on Sunday.

In a 2 hour 31 minute cliff-hanger, Saketh-who got a wildcard for the event-held his nerve at the crucial junctures to notch up a memorable win. With his victory, Saketh becomes the fourth Indian in the main-draw of the event after Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan and local boy Arjun Kadhe. In the main draw first round, Myneni faces a tough task in form of fifth seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire on Tuesday. 

Saketh sounded optimistic about his chances after back-to-back morale boosting wins.

“ It is obviously great to make the main draw. Today’s match was bit topsy-turvy for my liking, but the important thing is that I progressed to the main draw and I’m happy about that fact,” Saketh explained post the second qualifier. 

Indifferent start
The 31-year old Saketh had a jittery service game first up, facing break points on multiple occasions. He, however found his composure and made his opponent make the corners, holding his next four service games. It was a neck and neck battle in the opening exchanges as both the players tried to avoid unforced errors. Saketh spurned two set points in the eighth game of the opening set on Gerasimov’s serve, but made amends as he broke him again in the tenth game to clinch the first set 6-4 in 38 minutes.

Saketh had to take a medical time-out as he felt discomfort in his right shoulder. The break though, seemed to disturb his concentration as he lost the second set in tiebreaker.

“I felt bit of pain in my right shoulder, so the medics helped me with the magic spray. I normally avoid the time-outs as it disturbs my rhythm,” Saketh said owing to the forced time-out.

Post that though, in the third and deciding set, Saket came out of traps and raced to a 4-1 lead with a double break. He, however was pegged back by the Belarusian Gerasimov, who won the next four games to take the 5-4 lead with momentum by his side. 

See- Saw battle
Saketh was put under severe pressure and the tide turned again as both players held their next serves to force a tie-breaker in the decider.

Saketh was struggling and was 3-4 down in the tie-breaker, but just as it looked like Gerasimov was favourites, Saketh bounced back again-notching up three straight points to win the contest against his higher ranked opponent.

Results: (Second Round Qualifying)
Saketh Myneni (Ind) bt Egor Gerasimov (Blr) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4); Simone Bolleli (Ita) bt Sebastian Ofner (Aut) 7-6 ( 7-4), 7-5; Antoine Hoang (Fra) bt Thiago Monteiro (Bra) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Felix Auger-Aliassime (Can) bt Gianluigi Quinzi (Ita) 7-5, 6-3.  

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