Tennis Tourney: Prashanth, Balaji in 2nd Round of Qualifiers

Pune, Nov 17 (PTI) Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Sriram Balaji of India entered the singles second round qualifying at the KPIT MSLTA ATP Challenger tennis tournament here Saturday.

Prashanth survived three match-points to overcome Asian Junior Champion and compatriot Siddhant Banthia 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 in a match lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Prashanth, who got married last week and is coming back to the circuit from a break, lost the first set and looked rusty before he got his bearing and clinchedthe second set to fore the decider.

Banthia, who won the Asian Junior title, looked in control, but some poor shot selection saw him lose his grip from a commanding 5-4 (40-15) position and go down to the experienced Prashanth.

Balaji, who made the event as an alternate, capitalised on his lucky entry into the event to set up a close 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Luke Saville of Australia in 2 hours, 40 minutes to make it to the second round.

However, all other Indian players who got an entry to participate in the event were ousted.

Dutch player Miliaan Niesten out hit wild card Dhruv Sunish 6-4, 6-3, Youssef Hossam of Egypt got past Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-3, 6-4 with ease, while seventh seeded (in qualifiers) Sanjar Fayziev of Uzbekistan was challenged in the second set by Sidharth Rawat before winning 6-1, 6-4.

Another Uzbek, Khumoyun Sultanov, spent close to an hour on court to dispose off Kunal Anand 6-3, 6-0, while fifth seeded German Benjamin Hassan outsmarted Suraj Prabodh 6-1, 6-2.

Japanese Rio Noguchi was given a fight by Abhinav Shanmugam before winning 6-4, 6-4, while Danylo Kalenichenko of Ukraine outclassed Jayesh Pungliya 6-3, 6-4.

Local wild card Tejas Chaukulkar showed some promise winning the first set, but eventually went down to Italian Francesco Vilardo 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-0.

Meanwhile, the organisors awarded Manish Suresh Kumar and Mukund Sasikumar the remaining two wild cards for the tournament as Saketh Myneni, who is the finals of the Bengaluru Open, was awarded the Special Exempt and Sumit Nagal moved into the main draw as the last direct acceptance, said Tournament Director Sunder Iyer.

The results (1st qualifying round): N Sriram Balaji (IND) bt Luke Saville (AUS) 6-7, 6-4, 7-6; Miliaan Niesten (NED) bt [WC] Dhruv Sunish (IND)6-4, 6-3; Mick Lescure (FRA) bt [4] Antoine Escoffier (FRA) 7-5, 6-4; N Vijay Sundar Prashanth (IND) bt [WC] Siddhant Banthia (IND) 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5; Youssef Hossam (EGY) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 6-3, 6-4; Ben Patael (ISR) bt [2] Liam Broady (GBR) 6-3, 6-3; Danylo Kalenichenko (UKR) bt [WC] Jayesh Pungliya (IND) 6-3, 6-4; Francesco Vilardo (ITA) bt [WC] Tejas Chaukulkar (IND) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-0; [7] Sanjar Fayziev (UZB) bt Sidharth Rawat (IND) 6-1, 6-4; Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB) bt Kunal Anand (IND) 6-3, 6-0; [5] Benjamin Hassan (GER) bt Suraj Prabodh (IND) 6-1, 6-2; Rio Noguchi (JPN) bt Abhinav Shanmugam (IND) 6-4, 6-4;Lucas Gerch (GER) bt [3] Zsombor Piros (HUN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

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