Bengaluru, April 2 (IANS) Top two seeds Jay Clarke and Oliver Crawford suffered a scare, while India’s Raghav Jaisinghani stunned fourth seed Alexandr Binda to cruise into the second round of the SM Krishna Memorial Open at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Wednesday.
There was plenty to celebrate for the Indian contingent as Jaisinghani earned a superb win over Italy’s Binda. It was a stunning comeback win for the Indian as he bounced back after conceding the first set to win five on the trot, including two breaks, to clinch the second set 6-3. The final set saw Jaisinghani break serve in the first and fifth games to claim a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
Jaisinghani, who battled through two rounds of qualifying to make it to the main draw, said he stuck to his plan against Binda, and that made all the difference.
“I started off well, but he was the better one on court for the first set. I had a clear plan of what I needed to do, and I stuck to it, and eventually, I started getting points from that. I played to my tactics and believed in it, point after point, things began to go my way,” said Jaisinghani. He added that he had “zero expectations” coming into this contest and said he believed in taking things “day by day.”
“I’m not a person who makes goals or sets ranking goals. I go match-by-match. It would be good to try to go as deep as possible in the tournament, but I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” he added.
India’s Kabir Hans, who battled through the qualifying rounds, nearly caused the biggest upset of the tournament as he put up a scintillating fight against top seed Jay Clarke. The Englishman won the first set 6-4, but Kabir bounced back in the second to pocket it 6-4. The deciding third set went down to the wire and was decided on a tiebreaker, where Clarke reigned supreme to win the contest.
Clarke’s countryman Oliver Crawford, the second seed, also sailed into the second round as he beat Australia’s Kody Pearson in three sets.
Five Indians joined Jaisinghani in the second round as Karan Singh, Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam, Manish Sureshkumar, Prajwal Dev and Ishaque Eqbal also progressed.
Singh, seeded fifth, beat the in-form Adil Kalyanpur in straight sets to retain his title hopes. Shanmugham got the better of Suraj R Prabodh in three sets, while Sureshkumar enjoyed a commanding 6-2, 7-6 (2) victory over Yuvan Nandal. Eqbal had an easy outing as he pocketed a 6-2, 6-1 victory over his compatriot Maan Kesharwani. In another contest, the promising Aryan Shah edged past Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, while SD Prajwal Dev secured a 6-4, 6-4 win over Krish Tyagi.
In the doubles fixtures, Italy’s Alexandr Binda and Nikita Ianin defeated Manish Ganesh and Suraj R Prabodh 6-1, 6-4, while Digvijay Pratap Singh and Jagmeet Singh overcame Raghav Jaisinghani and Bharat Nishok Kumaran 5-7, 6-2, [10-7].
Day 2 results (main draw):
Men’s singles:
Raghav Jaisinghani (IND) bt 4-Alexandr Binda (ITA) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam (IND) bt Suraj R Prabodh (IND) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; 2-Oliver Crawford (GBR) bt Kody Anderson (AUS) 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5; Grigoriy Lomakin (KAZ) bt Rishi Reddy (IND) 7-6 (5), 6-3; 1- Jay Clarke (GBR) bt Kabir Hans (IND) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2); Manish Sureshkumar (IND) bt Yuvan Nandal (IND) 6-2, 7-6 (2); 5-Karan Singh (IND) bt Adil Kalyanpur (IND) 6-1, 7-5; Ishaque Eqbal (IND) bt Maan Kesharwani (IND) 6-2, 6-1; Aryan Shah (IND) bt Nitin Kumar Sinha (IND) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; SD Prajwal Dev (IND) bt Krish Tyagi (IND) 6-4, 6-4
Men’s doubles:
Alexandr Binda (ITA)/Nikita Ianin bt Manish Ganesh (IND)/Suraj R Prabodh (IND) 6-1,6-4; Digvijay Pratap Singh (IND)/Jagmeet Singh (IND) bt Raghav Jaisinghani (IND)/Bharat Nishok Kumaran (IND) 5-7, 6-2, [10-7]
–IANS
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