Pre-US Open ATP/WTA tournaments

[jaydeep]

Good win by Ram and Prajnesh ... Expected tougher opponents in the main-draw, but both can give us surprise with their performances.

[jayakris]

At the $1,895,290 Citi Open ATP, Washington DC, USA (Hard)

[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,155) l. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN,69), 62 16 16
[R1] (Q) Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,207) l. Steve Johnson (USA,81), 36 67(0)

Expected losses.

[PKBasu]

No, those weren't expected losses. I was following the matches, and Prajnesh had a great chance after that excellent first set. But his game inexplicably fell away thereafter. (Actually this is an emerging problem with PG this year).

Ramkumar broke Johnson at 4-5 in the second set. But bizarrely, he completely collapsed in the tiebreaker, failing to win a point. What happened to our tiebreak specialist??

[PKBasu]

Ankita lost 26 26 to Hsieh Su-wei, the second seed. Tough draw first up there. In doubles, Ankita is seeded second (with a Brit-Lankan partner), while the Hsieh sisters are top seeds.

[vparam]

I think you misunderstood Jay’s post. Going into the match, PG and RR were expected to lose. No way they were expected to come out with a win, especially with PG’s recent form.

[jayakris]

^^^ Yes. I only meant that they were expected losses going in. Having seen the score of the match, it is fair to say that perhaps they shouldn't have been expected, because both guys seemed to have a chance. In the normal circumstances, losses by players below top-150 will be fully expected against top-80 caliber players.

[Dinesh]

Ankita is now partnering German Mona Barthel and they will face the same Aussie pair. I wonder why Eden Silva was taken out but I’m more excited to see this partnership with the experienced Mona. Their first round match begins in 2 minutes.

[jayakris]

Ankita/Mona evened it up after a poor start, 36 64... STB starting.... and they win it easily.

At the $115K WTA125 Thoreau Open, Concord, MA, USA (hard)

[R1] Ankita raina (IND,194) l. (2) Su-wei Hsieh (TPE,75), 26 26

[R1] (2) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Mona Barthel (GER) d. Lizette Cabrera (AUS)/ Maddison Inglis (AUS), 36 64 [10-3]
[QF] (2) Ankita Raina (IND)/ Mona Barthel (GER) vs Sophie Chang (USA)/ Sophia Whittle (USA).

[Dinesh]

Ankita/Mona seals the win in the match tie-breaker.

At WTA125 Concord, MA

R1 Ankita Raina/Mona Barthel 3-6 6-4 10-3 Lizette Cabrera/Maddison Inglis
R2 plays Sophie Chang/Sophia Whittle

[Dinesh]

Lol, Jay you beat me to it!

[jayakris]

^^ I had typed and kept it ready to hit "post", as I was sure that they would win the STB ... Let's hope that this partnership with Mona is worthwhile!

[PKBasu]

Great that Ankita was able to replace Eden Silva with an even better partner, and still retain the #2 seeding! How does one accomplish that ?

[Sanjay]

At the $1,895,290 Citi Open ATP, Washington DC, USA (Hard)
[R1] (Q) Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND,155) l. Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN,69), 62 16 16
Expected losses.

Highly disappointing. I watched the first set PG was amazing. Almost blanked him. Then I had a meeting so couldn't watch, and when I got back he'd lost the 2nd set pretty badly. 3rd set he looked listless.

[jayakris]

At the $1,895,290 Citi Open ATP, Washington DC, USA (Hard)

[R1] (3) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Ivan Dodig (CRO) l. Nick Kyrgios (AUS)/ Frances Tiafoe (USA), 57 61 [9-11]

Tough upset loss

[vparam]

Tough loss but wouldn’t call it an upset. Nick Kyrios is one of the most talented doubles players out there. His ranking would be higher if he played more.