Sultanov, Rodionov upset seeds to enter second round

Young Indian players of the likes of Manas Dhamne, Aryan Shah and Karan Singh, all wildcard entrants found the going tough and went down to their illustrious international opponents in the first round of the Singles Main Draw of the  PMRDA Powered Maha Open ATP Challenger 100 Men’s Tennis Championship organized by Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Department of Sports and Youth Services Govt of Maharashtra, PCMC, PMC and PMDTA at the Mhalunge Balewadi Tennis Stadium on Tuesday night.

On the other hand, the unseeded duo of Khumoyun Sultanov from Uzbekistan and Austria’s Jurij Rodionov pulled off upset wins against the seasoned seeded players to make it to the second round.

In a well contested opening round match top-seeded Billy Harris of Great Britain quelled the challenge of 17-year local lad Manas Dhamne by an identical set score of 6-4, 6-4. Dhamne, who created a sensation by winning his first Senior Men's Singles title at an ITF M15 tournament in Monastir, Tunisia by defeating Italian Lorenzo Carboni 2-6, 6-0, 6-2, after graduating through the qualifier stage early this month, started his campaign well in familiar conditions. He took an early 2-0 lead with a break in the first set against Harris. The 110-ranked Britisher however proved a tough nut to crack, breaking the Indian ranked 793 twice in the first set and once in the second set on the Center court, with his booming serves which included nine aces as compared to one by the local favourite from Pune. In the end Harris justified his seeding and made it to the second round in a tie that lasted 1 hour 42 minutes.

19-year-old Aryan Shah, who was awarded a main draw wildcard, gave it his best but could not make an impact against sixth-seeded and 153-ranked Brandon Holt of the USA. Holt is the son of the legendary US tennis star of yesteryears, Tracy Austin played some solid tennis from the baseline to register a 6-2, 6-2 win against the Indian sixth ranked player Shah in 1 hour and 12 minutes.

Eighth seeded  Alexis Galarneau of  Canada earlier on Monday had taken 1 hour 3 minutes to register a  facile  6-4 , 6-1 win over  21-year old  Karan Singh in the first round. The Canadian ranked 170 in the world broke Singh, ranked 526 in the very first game of both sets. The Haryana based talented player Singh who had recently debuted for India in the Davis Cup recently looked confident in the first set but went down tamely in the second set. 

The 229-ranked, 26-year-old resident of Tashkent, Khumoyun Sultanov carved out the biggest upset of the day, ousting third seed and finalist of last year's edition Tristan Schoolkate of Australia 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a match lasting 1 hour and 49 minutes. Sultanov, who won a few future events in India in the last year played solidly from the baseline to hassle the world no 129, Shcoolkate, forcing him into errors in the third set.

Another unseeded player Jurij Rodionov of Austria lost the first set despite firing eight aces. However, he managed to take the next two sets to score a comeback win against 168 ranked and 21-year-old seventh seed Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan  6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2 in a 2-hour 9-minute match . The 6ft 3 inches Austrian, who was ranked as high as 87 in the world, served 15 aces in the match.

Winner of the Last edition's  Maha Open Challenger in Pune  Valentin Vacherot of Monaco who went on to be 110 ranked last year but   currently ranked 201 took off from where he left last year to create the first upset of the tournament toppling fourth seeded Elmer Moller of Denmark   5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in just over 2 hours and make the second round.

Dalibor Svrcina of Czech Republic a regular on the Indian Futures tour saved two match points to come from being 4-5 down in  the third set to register a   6-4,3-6,7-5  win over August Holmgren of Denmark in the longest match of the opening day lasting 2 hours 26 minutes.

Experienced campaigner Ramkumar Ramanathan of India earlier went down in the final qualifying round to seventh seeded Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium in three hard fought sets in 2 hour 03 minute also on the opening day of the Main Draw. The Indian ranked no. 2 and Davis Cupper did well to win the second in tie break after having lost the opening set with glimpses of brilliance,  but his fitness failed him in the third set as he could not maintain the same tempo and went down tamely with a match score line of  4-6, 7(5)-6, 0-6.

Michael Geerts  also of Belgium ,  ninth seeded   Masamichi Imamura  and Hiroki Moriya of Japan , sixth seeded  Ilia Simakin of Russia who ousted former winner of the Maha Open ATP Tour event   Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 along with another Russian Petr Bar Biryukov  qualified for the Main Draw of the Singles event.

Results

Main Draw (First Round): [1] Billy Harris (GBR)  bt [WC] Manas Dhamne (IND) 6-4,6-4; Sascha Gueymard Wayenburg (FRA)  bt [Q] Petr Bar Biryukov 7-6(6), 5-7, 6-3; [6] Brandon Holt (USA)  bt [WC] Aryan Shah (IND) 6-2, 6-2; [Q] Masamichi Imamura (JPN)  bt [Alt] Jay Clarke (GBR) 7-6(2), 6-2; [Q] Michael Geerts (BEL)  bt Marek Gengel (CZE) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4); [5] Ugo Blanchet (FRA)  bt Enzo Couacaud (FRA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3; [Alt] Kyrian Jacquet (FRA)  bt Rio Noguchi (JPN) 6-1, 6-3; Bernard Tomic (AUS)  bt Nicolas Mejia (COL) 6-2, 6-2; Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB)  bt [3] Tristan Schoolkate (AUS) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Jurij Rodionov (AUT)  bt [7] Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2; August Holmgren (DEN) vs Dalibor Svrcina (CZE) James McCabe (AUS)  bt [Alt] Enrico Dalla Valle (ITA)6-0, 6-3; [Q] Ilia Simakin  bt [LL] Blake Ellis (AUS)6-4, 6-2; Valentin Vacherot (MON)  bt [4] Elmer Moller(DEN)  5-7, 6-2, 6-4; [8] Alexis Galarneau (CAN) bt [WC] Karan Singh(IND)   6-4,6-1.

Final Qualifying Round:  [3] Michael Geerts (BEL)  bt [8]Justin Engel(GER) 7-6(4), 6-2; [9] Masamichi Imamura (JPN)  bt [4] Blake Ellis (AUS) 6-1, 6-4; [6] Ilia Simakin  bt [10] Jiri Vesely (CZE) 7-5, 6-1; [7] Kimmer Coppejans (BEL)  bt Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-0; Petr Bar Biryukov  bt [11] Kris Van Wyk (RSA) 6-3, 6-4l Hiroki Moriya (JPN)  bt [12] Matthew Dellavedova (AUS).