Australian Open, Melbourne, GS 2000, Jan 16-29, 2023

[jayakris]

Nice work by Yuvan!!

[R1] Yuvan Nandal (IND,49) d. Alexander Frusina (USA,34), 26 63 65 (Ret.)

.... But Balajeevan lost

[R2] (ALT) N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Jeevan Neduncheziyan (IND) l. Jeremy Chardy (FRA)/ Fabrice Martin (FRA), 46 46

[jayakris]

The stats show that Yuvan's fastest serve today was at 207 kph, which is at the higher end of serve velocity in the juniors. The opponent's fastest was 201 kph. For comparison, Manas' fastest serve was 183 kph and his opponent Zhang had 182... Aryan's fastest was 186 and his opponent Fonseca had 201.

I think only 4 players have served at a speed over 202 kph (and 218, 211, 208, 207 are the fastest of those 4 players) in the first round matches. Most of the boys served at somewhere in the 180 to 190 kph range at their best speed.

[sameerph]

Shruti lost in a one sided match.

[R1] Shruti Ahlawat (IND,84) l. Wakana Sonobe (JPN,64) 36 16

[sameerph]

Sania and partner lost in their second round women's doubles match.

[R2] Sania Mirza (IND) / Anna Danilina (KAZ) l. Alison Van Uytvanck (BEL) / Anhelina Kalininia (UKR) 46 64 26

So, only 2 junior boys in singles and Sania/Rohan in doubles left for us.

[R2] Manas Dhamne (IND,76) vs. (11) Yi Zhou (CHN,22)

[R2] Yuvan Nandal (IND,49) vs. (4) Authur Gea (FRA,11)

[Rajiv]

Dhamne in close tight match against the fancied 11th seeded Chinese.
S1 at 56 was 30 love up but all of a sudden lost 4 points in a row to lose the game and the set.
Better start in S2, where he broke his opponent in the opening game and held for a 2 love lead.

[Rajiv]

Now Dhamne quickly turns around and takes the S2 at 3, through out the second set not only held on to his serve after breaking his oponent , but even broke the Chinese second time at 53 to take the set.

On to the decider..

[sameerph]

Looks like Manas started cramping and fell down serving at 2-2, 30-15, too a medical timeout which is now allowed for cramping, came back but could not move much and retired at 2-5 in third set. ( I did not see, this is based on other accounts from ITD).

Sad. I saw part of first set and most of the second set and he was matching the 22nd ranked Chinese in strokes and was actually better in second set.

Maybe has to improve fitness or is cramping something which can happen to anyone ( irrespective of fitness level ? )

[jayakris]

I don't know if this is scientifically proven, but many such cramping instances are also caused by mental stress. Actually there is a very good basketball player at the University Texas basketball team (Tyrese Hunter) who had no history of cramping before but has been cramping almost every game lately when pressure hits. Quite strange, and the fitness staff and medicos are puzzled, as nothing has changed that they can see. He transferred this year to Texas, after a freshman of the year award last year in big12, arguably the best basketball conference now. So the game or the level of play isn't new to him. He had a great start this year too, but then I guess the pressure is hitting him now. Anyway, I am not saying it happened to Manas, but it could have. This was going to be a big upset for him at his age, and he must have got a bit tight in his mind. Did that add to the cramping issue? Who knows! Anyway, I am glad that he is showing ample evidence that he has the game to take on some of these top players already. The sky is the limit, really.

[arjun2761]

Highly conditioned athletes like those in the NFL and World Cup also cramp up, so not necessarily proof of poor fitness. In hot conditions, proper hydration and things like pickle juice can help…

[sameerph]

Anyway, I am glad that he is showing ample evidence that he has the game to take on some of these top players already. The sky is the limit, really.

Yes, his shotmaking was really good for his age. Down the line backhand already looks like a weapon as he hit at least 3-4 winners with that, backhand in general is very good.Forehand is decent- he was able to force errors from opponent from that wing too, he should add some power to that in next couple of years. Movement around the court is pretty good. Also his determination of fighting back when chips are down and raise his game were evident. In first set, he was broken to be down 3-5 and in the next game, he raised his game a notch to break back. This is very important aspect at this level. As of now serve is average, hope he can add something to it.

His Chinese opponent has won a lot of junior titles last year - a J1 and J2 title in Asia and 3-4 J3/J4 titles in South America. So, he has played a lot more quality matches than Manas which has toughened him up. I am pretty sure when Manas goes thru these matches this year, he will be a better player than Chinese is currently. ( even today he could have won but for the cramps) .

Lot of positives from today's match, I think Manas is our most talented junior to have emerged at least since Yuki Bhambri.

[PKBasu]

Sania's final Slam is not over yet. She is in the QF of the MxD with Bopanna, after beating Ninomiya-Behar 64 76(9) in R2. They play Ostapenko-Vega Hernandez in the QF.

[prashanthm]

Yuvan won

I was only tracking scores online and he was 0-5 down in the 3rd set before making it back to 6-5, only for his opponent to concede after that break. I was thinking of Jay all the while thinking Yuvan must have heard his advice.

Yeah! it was weird... I stopped following at 0-5 in the decider and came back to see that the opponent retired at 6-5... Not sure what happened there, where the opponent was injured after being up 5-0 or Yuvan played extremely well from there and the opponent gave up or was injured in the end...

But I am glad Yuvan persevered and made it through...

[prashanthm]

Yes, his shotmaking was really good for his age. Down the line backhand already looks like a weapon as he hit at least 3-4 winners with that, backhand in general is very good.Forehand is decent- he was able to force errors from opponent from that wing too, he should add some power to that in next couple of years. Movement around the court is pretty good. Also his determination of fighting back when chips are down and raise his game were evident. In first set, he was broken to be down 3-5 and in the next game, he raised his game a notch to break back. This is very important aspect at this level. As of now serve is average, hope he can add something to it.

Sameer, this sounds like a first hand account of the events. Where did you watch the game? I couldn't find any stream for Jr matches...

[prashanthm]

What this retirement also did was force Manas/Aryan to withdraw from Boys doubles event...

[sameerph]

Yes, his shotmaking was really good for his age. Down the line backhand already looks like a weapon as he hit at least 3-4 winners with that, backhand in general is very good.Forehand is decent- he was able to force errors from opponent from that wing too, he should add some power to that in next couple of years. Movement around the court is pretty good. Also his determination of fighting back when chips are down and raise his game were evident. In first set, he was broken to be down 3-5 and in the next game, he raised his game a notch to break back. This is very important aspect at this level. As of now serve is average, hope he can add something to it.

Sameer, this sounds like a first hand account of the events. Where did you watch the game? I couldn't find any stream for Jr matches...

Sonyliv app in India