TATA Open Tennis: Yuki tames Kadhe; Nagal crashes out

Tennis player Yuki Bhambri plays a shot during his match against Arjun Kadhei at Maharashtra Open 2018 in Pune on Tuesday PicPTIYuki Bhambri asserted his class over a promising Arjun Kadhe even as young Sumit Nagals ATP World Tour debut ended in a tame defeat at the Tata Open Maharashtra here today Bhambri countrys topranked singles players outplayed wild card and local boy Kadhe 63 64 in the opening round of the event He will now fight it out with eighth seed Frenchman PierreHugues Herbert who battled past Marco Cecchinato 76 4 672 62 in a gruelling seasonopener Nagals unbeaten streak of seven matches was halted by fellow qualifier Ilya Ivashka as the Indian bowed out with a 36 36 defeat in his first roundNagal 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 the Delhi lad Bhambri maintained a tight control over the proceedings with his superior game He returned everything Kadhe threw at him and found some superb winnersBhambri ranked 118 broke Kadhe in the third game only to drop his own serve in the next but wrested back the initiative with another break in the fifthThe fearless approach of Kadhe who returned to Pro circuit after doing graduation from University of Oklahoma only this year though was appreciated by local fans who kept chanting his name in the battle between the two IndiansKadhe 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 onhis 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 evensteven by getting back the break immediately Kadhe needed something extraordinary to turn the tide He had strokes and the heart to fight but lacked experienceFor the record it was Bhambris 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 strategyRealising 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 41 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 strokeplay Serving to stay in the set Nagal was up 300 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 loveNagal 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 20yearold Haryana lad 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 matchNagals struggle to put the ball inside the lines continued and was down 040 facing three match points He lost with a double fault on the first It was second meeting between 20yearold Nagal and Ivashka with the Indian losing the first match at the same venue during the 2015 Challenger eventIn other singles matches of the day fifth seed Ribin Haase overcame a stiff resistance from Blaz Kavcic 766 75 while Laslo Djere bounced back to beat Marius Copil 57 64 7 5Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go