India’s Yuki Bhambri registered an impressive come-from-behind win over Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia in the men’s singles opening round of the 2022 Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Monday.
The 29-year-old Indian, who had started directly into the main draw at the South Asia’s only ATP 250, secured a 6-7 (10), 6-2, 7-5 win in his opener. The tournament, which is organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association, will be played till February 6.
After losing the hard-fought first set, the former junior world No 1, who made a comeback into the international circuit recently after a two-year break due to injury, started the second with 2-0 lead and looked in good touch. He didn’t let the momentum shift away before bagging the set easily and levelling the scores.
“Letting the first game slip was a bit yo yo. Sat down, got back but because it is so close and felt so comfortable that gave me confidence to keep attacking which helped me in the second set in the end,” Bhambri said after the match.
In the decider, the Delhi-born player converted a break point to take the scores at 3-3 and then added one more set point to keep himself ahead in the game.
Though the 29-year-old Slovakian tried his best to make a comeback into the contest, Bhambri held his nerves and clinched the decider to advance into the second round.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran, however, lost to the fifth-seeded Daniel Altmaier 6-7(5), 2-6. After putting up a fight in the opening set, when he stretched the German to a tie-breaker, the Indian struggled for momentum in the second.
Earlier France’s Quentin Halys sent World No. 82 Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania packing with a stunning 6-1, 6-2 win.
The world No 141 Halys from France looked quite confident against the higher-ranked opponent as he hardly gave any opportunity to Berankis.
In the other round-of-32 match, former world No 39 Moldovan Radu Albot faced a tough challenge from Federico Gaio of Italy in the second set but managed to sail through with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory in the end.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Australian pair of Like Saville and John-Patrick Smith lived up to the expectations as they defeated Stefano Travaglia and Bernabe Zapata Miralles in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
In the other doubles opening round match, French duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul outclassed the third-seeded pair of Szymon Walkow and Jan Zielinski 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to move into the last-eight stage.
In the singles qualifying matches played on Monday, Czech Republic’s Vita Kopriva stunned top-seed Turkish player Altug Celikbilek with a hard-fought 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 7-5 win and made his way into the main draw.
Swedish player Elias Ymer also secured an entry into the main draw with an easy 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian Marc Polmans. British Jay Clarke and Gian Marco Moroni of Australia were the other two players, who emerged victorious in the final qualifying round and entered the main draw.