Saturday, February 02, 2019

Tennis News

At the World Group Qualifier 2019, Kolkata, India

India l Italy 1-3

Day One
[R1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 46 26
[R2] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53) 46 36

Day Two
[R3] Divij Sharan (IND)/ Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA)/ Simone Bolelli (ITA) 46 63 64
[R4] Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,102) l Andreas Seppi (ITA,37) 16 46
[R5] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,133) vs Matteo Berrettini (ITA,53)

After 0-2 down on the first day, the Indians started on the backfoot on the second day ... They managed to win the doubles in a comeback victory, but Seppi proved a too strong our singles players and Italy won the tie 3-1.

The Italian captain kept surprising and fielded Matteo in the doubles, after his excellent debut on the first day, with Bolelli ... His introduction paid off as the Italian pair started well ... They broke Rohan in the 9th game and then held their service game for winning the first set ... In the second set, our pair took a crucial break on the Matteo’s serve in the 4th game to lead 4-1 ... After that both pairs held their respective service games, Divij saved a couple of break point before holding his serve and won the second set ... In the third set, the Italians were in the driving seat when they broke Divij in the 4th game to lead 1-3 ... But from here the Indians made a comeback in the match ... They immediately broke Bolelli in the 5th game, 2-3, and then again broke Bolelli in the 9th game to lead the first time in the set, 5-4 ... Rohan held his serve to give a first point of the tie for the Indians.
In the reverse singles, Prajnesh faced an old cookie Seppi ... Considering Seppi's experience this was a tough match for Prajnesh ... In the first set, Prajnesh tried to outplay Seppi from the baseline and that backfired ... Seppi won the set comfortably ... In the second, Prajnesh ran close with Seppi but Seppi used his experience to finish this match in two sets ... With this win, the Italian qualify for the World Group.


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