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Bhambri, country’s top-ranked singles players, outplayed wild card and local boy Kadhe 6-3, 6-4 in his opening round tie. He will now fight it out with eighth seed Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who battled past Marco Cecchinato 7-6 (4), 6-7 (2), 6-2 in a gruelling season-opener.
Nagal’s unbeaten streak of seven matches was halted by fellow qualifier Ilya Ivashka as the Indian bowed out with a 3-6, 3-6 defeat in his first round. Nagal, ranked 223, came into the match after winning the Bengaluru Open and two qualifying matches here for his maiden ATP World Tour event. He struggled to contain unforced errors against the Belarusian, placed seven places below him.
Kadhe had nothing to lose and went for his shots but uncontrolled aggression did not trouble Bhambri. The Delhi player maintained a tight control over the proceedings with his superior game. He returned everything Kadhe threw at him and found some superb winners.
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Kadhe packed a lot of power in his backhand but Bhambri did not give him many short balls to take advantage. In the entire first set, Bhambri lost only four points on his serve. Kadhe, serving to stay in the set, served three double faults in the ninth game and handed the set to his rival by hitting a forehand long on the second set point.
In the second set, it was Kadhe who got the first break in the third game but Bhambri made it even-stevens by getting back the break immediately. Kadhe needed something extraordinary to turn the tide. He had the strokes and the heart to fight but lacked experience.
It was Bhambri’s 11th win in a row at this venue, having won the Challenger event in 2015 and 2017. Earlier, there were no easy points for Nagal as Ivashka not only played aggressive but had good control over his strokes. His measured game meant that there were not many unforced errors, forcing Nagal to rethink his strategy.
Realising that the only trouble Ivashka was having was in tackling high bounce, Nagal tried to feed such balls consistently but the Belarusian was up to the task and raced to a 4-1 lead following a break of serve in the fourth game. Ivashka kept Nagal under the pump by moving him on the court side to side with his superior stroke-play.
Serving to stay in the set, Nagal was up 30-0 but a flurry of unforced errors, including a double fault, meant that he was soon facing a set point. He managed to save that but unrelenting Ivashka closed the set in his favour by serving the next game at love.
Nagal tried very hard but could not find a way to overcome his opponent. He lost serve in the very first game of the second set when he hit a forehand wide. While Ivashka maintained the intensity, Nagal was again facing a point in the third game. Desperate to save the point, he even argued with the chair umpire who overruled the wrong call from a lines umpire and asked to replay the point.
Nagal did save that point but was soon facing another. Egged on by the little crowd, the 20-year-old Haryanvi finally got on board. Trailing by a set and a break, Nagal did not do any good to his cause by dropping serve in the fifth. The match was as good as over however Ivashka dropped serve while serving for the match.
Results: Round 1: Singles: Robin Haase (Ned) bt Blaz Kavcic (Slo) 7-6 (6), 7-5; Yuki Bhambri (Ind) bt Arjun Khade (Ind) 6-3, 6-4; Ilya Ivashka (Bel) bt Sumit Nagal (Ind) 6-3, 6-3; Laslo Djere (Srb) bt Marius Copil (Rom) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. Doubles: Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra)/ Gilles Simon (Fra) bt Kevin Anderson (Rsa)/ Jonathan Erlich (Isr) 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.