$75K(+H) Karshi/Samarkand Challengers, May 7-20 2018

[nitin28]

Mukund Second Round started and it is on serve in first set, with mukund leading 4-3
mukund breaks milojevic at 15 to lead 5-3 and serving for set.. he holds at 15 to take first set 6-3

Mukund started well on milojevic serve to start with 0-30, but 2 UE brought back equation to 30-30.. then milojevic did UE and mukund had BP.. but 3 strong serves from milojevic helped him to hold..

AND sasi got broken at 15.. to trail 0-2
momentum changed completely and he is down 0-4, and its 0-5
Ouch!! he got bagelled.

Sasi back to score table, as he holds in 3rd set 1-1.. both holds again 2-2..
sasi breaks milojevc to lead 3-2

[Rajiv]

Mukund quickly off the blocks and takes the first set 6-3 but is 0-2 down after his opponent taking a toilet break ,

Looking at Karshi courts where during Mid afternoon the courts are half shaded due to improper construction , brings back memories of 5 years ago where on the very same court Prakash was making a comeback of sorts from his frequent injuries .
Was well poised for return to form and playing the semis against Radu Albot , but unfortunately once again the dreadful elbow injury struck him and he had to retire from the semi's ,
This injury proved a final nail in his career, although he went on to play 3 to 4 more tournaments , but injury suffered during Radu Albot match was career threatening and he had to give up tennis forever in that year, However in the last 3-4 tournaments he played , he did show his brilliance with wins over Dustin Brown and that famous win against Somdev

[nitin28]

Sasi won the match 6-3, 0-6, 6-2

[suresh]

Great to see Mukund win. He moves up to three spots behind Arjun Kadhe at 376 in the live rankings. Mukund will be India number 5 if the wins the next round.

[R2] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) d. (2) Nikola Milojevic (SRB,208), 63 06 62

[QF] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND, 422) vs Cem Ilkel (TUR, 258)

In R2, Cem Ilkel beat 5th seed Ndeovyesov who retired in the decider while trailing 4-0.

[Rajiv]

Fantastic Run by Mukund on the Challenger circuit so far.

Arjun he will surely overtake , it is just a matter of time , but the remarkable consistency and maturity he is displaying in the Challengers , than even Sumit's spot as Indian # 4 is under a big threat.

[suresh]

Yes, Rajiv. With Sumit falling freely through the rankings, Mukund might overtake him with his current form.

[jayakris]

Sasi won the match 6-3, 0-6, 6-2

Hey, we said we will call him Sasi only when he plays badly. Otherwise we call him by what everybody calls him, as Mukund

[Omkara]

Feels so good. What I saw in Guwahati future was not a plan but glimpse of better days for Mukund. His subsequent failures lessons the tour give you. Great job buddy

[sameerph]

Wow, what a win for Mukund. I could only watch the first set and Mukund was playing some perfect tennis. Hitting winners on both flanks. Not sure what happened in the second set but looks like in the thirds set he went back to the first set mode. Next up against 22 year Ilkel who is 4-7 this year at challenger/ATP level, again not in great form. But, last year at Karshi he reached the final. So, seems to like the surface here. I think it depends on if Mukund is beginning to get tired. He will be playing his sixth match in 6 days.

Yes, Rajiv. With Sumit falling freely through the rankings, Mukund might overtake him with his current form.

That will take some time though. Sumit is at 260 points, Mukund at 115 and Sumit has all his points to defend towards later part of the year. So, this might happen towards end of the year. But, I hope Sumit regains his form by them and keeps pushing the target for India #4 up and up.

[bujilover]

What a dream run for Sasi in the past 2 months!

But Vishnu and Balaji definitely didn't want to extend this happiness for us.

[QF] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) 4-6 6-7 Altug Celikbilek (TUR) / Cem Ilkel (TUR)

[jayakris]

What a dream run for Sasi in the past 2 months!

Yeah... Sasi became Mukund in that period. I guess I am not that successful in my attempts to remind everybody that he is now Mukund (till he plays badly to becomes Sasi again)

[sameerph]

Mukund against Ilkel is up on ATP live stream.

Mukund up 3-2 in first set on serve with no breakpoints so far.
And Mukund gets the first break of the match at 30 to lead 4-2. A couple of nice returns and volley hit out by Ilkel on breakpoint.

[Rajiv]

Up at 4-2 with a break..

[sameerph]

Mukund saves a couple of break points but holds after a couple more dueces. 2 aces in that service game helped him there.

Mukund has a set point at 40-30 on Ilkel serve but he saves it with some good play and wins the next 2 points to hold for 3-5. Mukund has a chance to save for the set now.

Mukund down 15-40 on serve, saves both breakpoint with aces, error from Ilkel gets it SP, error from Mukund, deuce,error again from Ilkel, SP#3 and this time he takes to to take the first set 6-3.

[Rajiv]

Nicely pockets the first set 6-3.
Looking forward to wrapping up in straight sets