Top-seeded Sultanov prevails; Four Indians advance to quarters

Kalaburagi, Nov 21: Russian Bogdan Bobrov, a huge hit with the fans because of his unique hairdo, took SD Prajwal Dev in his stride in the second round of the men’s ITF Kalaburagi Open at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts here on Thursday.

The 27-year-old’s workmanlike 6-2, 6-3 victory over an error-prone Indian powered him into the quarterfinals of the $25,000 World Tennis Tour event. He takes on fifth-seeded Aryan Shah next.

Against a rival who fired only in fits and starts, Bobrov was hardly tested in the one-hour and 12-minute encounter. He jump-started to a 3-0 lead with a break in the second game, riding more on Prajwal’s largesse than any brilliance from him.

Egged on by his camp in the stands, the 28-year-old Prajwal woke up from his slumber and forced Bobrov into errors by returning deep with his power-packed groundstrokes. He held serve in the fourth and broke the Russian in the fifth game.

Unfortunately, the Mysurean failed to maintain the intensity and errors soon crept into his game. Bobrov wasn’t complaining as he broke Prajwal in the sixth game and the ninth to seal the opening set.

Like in the first set, the Russian took a 3-1 lead with a break in the fourth game. But Prajwal broke right back with two big forehand winners and a lucky net cord saw the Russian hitting his backhand long.

That raised visions of a fightback, but the Indian’s challenge fizzled out quickly as errors began to flow thick and fast from his racquet. The Russian capitalized on that to break him in the sixth game and then closed out the match with an ace in the ninth game.

Later, top-seeded Khumoyun Sultanov survived some anxious moments against an indisposed Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan. The qualifier surprised Sultanov by matching him shot for shot and even taking a 4-3 lead in the opening set.

However, the 25-year-old Indian, who was running a temperature, just didn’t have the energy to maintain the tempo. The Uzbek, sensing Dheeraj’s struggles, then ran the Indian ragged and quickly wrapped up the first set.

Gasping for breath, Dheeraj called the doctor on court when down 0-2 in the second set. Even though he did continue gamely, it was all over bar the shouting as Sultanov took the second set 6-0.

Among the Indians who made it to the last-eight stage were fourth-seeded Karan Singh, birthday boy Aryan Singh (No. 5), Dev Javia (No. 7) and Sidharth Rawat.

Results (Prefix denotes seeding, Indians unless mentioned):

Singles: Round 2: 6-Nick Chappell (USA) bt Anthony Susanto (Ina) 6-3, 6-2; 8-Maxim Zhukov (Rus) bt Rishab Agarwal 6-2, 6-1; 7-Dev Javia bt M Rifqi Fitriadi (Ina) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; 2-Bogdan Bobrov (Rus) bt SD Prajwal Dev 6-2, 6-3; 4-Karan Singh bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-4, 6-3; Sidharth Rawat bt Adhithya Ganesan (USA) 6-3, 7-6 (7-0); 1-Khumoyun Sultanov (Uzb) bt Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan 6-4, 6-0; 5-Aryan Shah bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-3.

Round 1: Aryan bt Kabir Hans 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.

Doubles (Quarters): Nick Chappell (USA)/ Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Yash Chaurasia/ Karan Singh 6-2, 7-5; Siddhant Banthia/ Vishnu Vardhan bt M Rifqi Fitriadi (Ina)/ Rishi Reddy 4-6, 6-2, 10-7; 1-Egor Agafonov/ Bogdan Borbov (Rus) bt Adhithya Ganesan (USA)/ Aryan Shah 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-7; Rishab Agarwal/ Kabir Hans bt 4-Manish Sureshkumar/ Parikshit Somani 7-5, 6-3.

CAPTION: PIX-1 & PIX-2: Russian Bogdan Bobrov in action during his win over SD Prajwal Dev in the second round of the ITF Kalaburagi Open on Thursday.

PIX-3: Birthday boy Aryan Shah returns to fellow Indian Manish Sureshkumar in the second round of the ITF Kalaburagi Open on Thursday.