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

[sameerph]

Mukund, VSP and Sid are playing in qualies this week and started with wins.

At $75K(+H) Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q1] (2) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) d. Mikhail Elgin (RUS,834) 63 52 retd.
[Q1] (8) Siddharth Rawat (IND,509) d. (WC) Sanetulla Kutubaev (UZB,NR) 64 61
[Q1] (5) Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,468) d. Timur Khabubilin (KAZ,785) 57 63 60

Next,

[Q2] (2) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs. Luca Margaroli (SUI,824)
[Q2] (8) Siddharth Rawat (IND,509) vs. Marek Gengel (CZE,724)
[Q2] (5) Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,468) vs. Oleksander Bielinsky (UKR,877)

I was expecting Saketh to be here. It would been easy for him to qualify for the main draw.

[jaydeep]

Mukund and VSP moved into the final qualifying with straight sets win ... Mukund is facing Czech player Marek Gengel, who defeated Sid in two tie-breaks ... VSP is facing Japanese Sekiguchi.

In the doubles, Saki is playing with VSP and they r the 4th seeds ... They r in the same draw of the top seeds Vishnu and Bala.

[Q2] (2) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) bt Luca Margaroli (SUI,824) 63 63
[Q2] (8) Siddharth Rawat (IND,509) l Marek Gengel (CZE,724) 67(3) 67(1)
[Q2] (5) Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,468) bt Oleksander Bielinsky (UKR,877) 62 62

[Q3] (2) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) vs Marek Gengel (CZE,724)
[Q3] (5) Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,468) vs Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN.514)

Doubles
[R1] (1) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Mikhail Elgin (RUS)/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov (KAZ)
[R1] (4) Saketh Myneni (IND)/ Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND) vs Yaraslav Shyla (BLR)/ Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)

[bujilover]

So weird Saki is playing doubles only at this tournament but I’m glad to see he at least traveled to UZB (must be playing singles Q next week).

[sameerph]

Yes, weird indeed. Did Saki not reach in time for singles qualies ?

[jaydeep]

Yes, weird indeed. Did Saki not reach in time for singles qualies ?

Mostly that would be the reason, may be some last minute travel plan glitch?

[PKBasu]

Or maybe he wants to play in the qualifiers only when he is sure to be seeded (after his points from last week enter the computer). Start with some doubles first.

[sameerph]

Mukund qualifies for the main draw with a straight sets win.

At $75K(+H) Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[Q3] (2) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,418) d. Marek Gengel (CZE,724) 62 64

He does seem to have gained confidence from his great run in China challengers recently. Earlier he used to struggle to get thru these qualifying draws of challengers but now he comes thru with 3 straight sets wins.

VSP is up 76(4) 22 against Sekiguchi of Japan in Q3. Hope he joins Mukund in main draw.

[Rajiv]

And with that win , jumps up 11 spots and Mukund is at 407 in live rankings.

[PKBasu]

VSP lost the second set 4-6, and it's 1-1 in the final set now.

[PKBasu]

VSP up a vital break now in the final set, 4-2

[PKBasu]

[Q3] (5) Vijay Sunder Prashanth (IND,468) vs Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN,514) 76(4) 46 67(2)


Sekiguchi saved 8 BPs in the seventh game, but managed to hold! 4-3, VSP to serve.
VSP holds at 30. 5-3. (Really high quality hitting between a couple of guys ranked in the 450-520 range).
This time Sekiguchi holds easily at 15. 5-4, VSP to serve for the match.
VSP fails to convert 4 MPs, then saves a couple of BPs before he is broken. Sekiguchi is a helluva fighter. 5-5
Now Sekiguchi holds at love. 5-6
VSP holds at 30. 6-6
Sekiguchi races to a 6-1 lead, VSP drop shot makes it 6-2, then an ace from SS ends its. 6-7(2)

[sameerph]

Lost opportunity for VSP. Only 4 out of the 18 breakpoints converted which was the key and he missed 8 of them when he had a chance to go up 5-2 in the final set which could have been critical. Also missed 4 matchpoints serving at 5-4.

Must say Sekiguchi gave his all and really fought hard. VSP looked dead tired after some of the points towards the end. I think he should come to the net more often towards the end and try to keep the points short and used his volleying skills which should be good considering he plays a lot of doubles.

[suresh]

I saw a little bit of VSP's match towards the end and gave up when he returned the break in the third set. VSP's serve appeared to be predictable and there was no variety in his shots. He also had no response to Sekiguchi's quasi-moonballs which were often deep and never did venture to the net.

[PKBasu]

Sekiguchi had a mix of moon-balls and terrific torso-swivelled forehand winners (or near-winners). Whenever VSP came to the net, he was able to end the moonball phase of a rally immediately. Sekiguchi's volleying was much less reliable. All those BPs saved in the 7th game were the crucial turning point in the match: it showed that Sekiguchi was more determined and could dig deeper than the higher-ranked Indian.

[sameerph]

Mukund draws a local player in first round.

At $75K(+H) Karshi Challenger, Uzbekistan

[R1] (Q) Sasi Kumar Mukund (IND,422) vs. Sanjar Faziyev (UZB,458)

23 year old Faziyev is currently ranked lower than Mukund but had a career high ranking of 253 last year and he beat Mukund in 2016 Astana Challenger. Hope and improved Mukund will avenge that loss.