Asian Challengers July-October 2017

[PKBasu]

Balaji/Vishnu continued their great doubles form, thrashing VSP/Saketh 62 62 in R1. Saketh's score lines in singles and doubles suggest he is not yet fully fit (or certainly nowhere near his normal form).

[PKBasu]

Vishnu plays 6-Ricardas Berankis (LTU, 196) in R2. Berankis was once ranked #50 in the world, and considered one of the young challengers to make it to the charmed circle of tennis, but he has failed to live up to that promise.

In the doubles QF, Vishnu/Balaji play Di Wu/Zhizeng Zhang.

[Varma]

If I remember right, Berankis is one of those immensely talented players who was born in an ultra rich family. While he always oozed oodles of talent, his drive and motivation were perpetually in question. That probably explains his extremely topsy-turvy career. In fact, I was surprised to see that he is ranked as low as 192. He can bring in top-20 type of tennis to court in a snap any day. Let's just hope that it's not going to be tomorrow.

- Varma

[arjun2761]

I think that is the story of Gulbis. Per wikipedia, Berankis' dad worked as a taxi driver which isn't normally a profession of the ultra wealthy.

[sameerph]

Berankis was ranked 50 only in mid 2016 and seems to have been injured or something as he did not play anywhere till May this year. On his return he does not seem to be playing at top 100 level. Still, I think he would be too strong for Vishnu. Hope to be proven wrong here.

I saw parts of Saketh's match. I think Donskoy would have been tough for Saketh even while playing at his peak. So, Saketh was unlucky to draw him in first round. Saki played well in patches but not all the time. Also looked a bit tired in the end ( hope not injured). If it is only due to rustiness, it would be better for him to play some futures to get more matches and not waste his PR spots when he is not fully ready to utilise them.

[Varma]

I think that is the story of Gulbis. Per wikipedia, Berankis' dad worked as a taxi driver which isn't normally a profession of the ultra wealthy.

You are right, Arjun. Thanks for clarifying. I always get confused between these two guys.

- Varma

[PKBasu]

When Berankis was 20, he made the second round of Wimbledon and the US Open, and the third round of the Australian Open. That is when he was considered one of the legitimate young hopefuls to join tennis' charmed circle (top 20 or better) in the future. But he has failed to surpass that level in subsequent years.

[PKBasu]

Vishnu lost 46 46 to Berankis. No disgrace. Although Berankis has never quite emulated his string of R2, R2, R3 at successive Slams when he was 20 (and made it to #73 in the world), he reached his career high last year at #50. At 27, still a pretty decent player who was too much for even a resurgent Vishnu to handle.

[jaydeep]

But in the doubles, he and Bala scored impressive straight sets win over local Chinese pair for entering into the semis.

At $150K Jinan Challenger 2017, China

[R2] Vishnu Vardhan (IND,424) l (6) Ricardas Berankis (LTU,196) 46 46

Doubles
[QF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Di Wu (CHN)/ Zhizeng Zhang (CHN) 76(4) 63

[arjun2761]

This seems like a good strong doubles pairing. Perhaps, another DiPu in the making?

[Varma]

I certainly feel the same. It's not only good to see them getting chances to play these high level Challengers, but also very fulfilling to notice how hungrily they are grabbing every such opportunity. A few more of these tournament wins should see them graduate to ATP levels. But the road to doubles' glory is much much harder than its singles' counterpart. If they can garner enough points the rest of this year and make a good run at Pune ATP next Jan, they might dream of getting to where DiPu are now by the middle of next year.

- Varma

[PKBasu]

Vishnu/Balaji certainly have the makings of a successful ATP tour pair -- having prepared the way nicely this year by dominating the Asia Challengers. But they now need to start playing the occasional ATP tournament, perhaps during the China/Asia swing post US Open. It is impossible to make a serious living as a doubles specialist at the Challenger level, so it is imperative that they make the transition to the ATP tour level soon.

Vishnu (133) and Balaji (146) are both at their career-high live doubles rankings.

[jaydeep]

They continue their good run and enter into the final ... They defeated 2nd seed Taipei pair in the match tie-break and facing another Taipei pair for the title.

At $150K Jinan Challenger 2017, China

[SF] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt (2) Ti Chen (TPE)/ Chu-Huan Yi (TPE) 64 36 10-5

[F] (3) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs (1) Cheng-Peng Hsieh (TPE)/ Hsien-Yin Peng (TPE)

[jayakris]

This is a really good run by our pair. Things are really looking up for them.

[PKBasu]

New career-high doubles rankings of 123 (Vishnu) and 133 (Balaji) for our pair now in the live rankings.