Mukund Sasikumar thread

[Rajiv]

Couldn't watch the match but saw the scoreline and Mukund won , to win 1 & 3 against Ray Ho probably indicates he must have played good Tennis.
Next round against the Thai Subject or the Chinese Zhou Yi who leads 2 love in S1 and serving to go up 3 zero.

[jayakris]

At the M15 in Tianjin, China (Hard):

[R2] (2) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,476) d. Ray Ho (TPE,933), 61 63
so
[QF] (2) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,476) vs Yi Zhou (CHN,714)

19 year old Yi Zhou upset the 7th seed Trongcharoenchaikul, last week's runner up to Mukund. Yi had also upset Mukund 2 weeks ago in the first round of the M25 there where he then ran to the final. None of this is really surprise upsets, as Yi is no run-of-the-mill guy. He was ranked as high as the world junior #3 last year and finished the year as the #11 junior. He is coming up the rankings now. I expect the QF to not be easy for Mukund, but hopefully he will get revenge for the upset 2 weeks ago.

[jayakris]

From two weeks ago,

Mukund played in M25 in Luzhou, China and lost in first round against 19 year Yi Zhou (CHN,811) in first round 57 26.

That is what I was talking about. When he plays in futures his level drops down below the players at that level.

I guess neither you nor I noticed that this is the same Yi Zhou who was #3 in the juniors last year (as I just wrote above). Tough to remember Chinese names! And he went to the final 2 weeks ago. I am very interested in seeing how Mukund handles him the second time around this week.

[sameerph]

Oh, I did not notice that. He is the same player who beat Manas in 3 sets in 2023 Australian open, I had seen that match and Manas had given a good fight against him.

Hope Mukund can take him out although it will be tough.

[Rajiv]

Mukund involved in a real humdinger,both traded sets at 3 , and 2 all in the decider

[Rajiv]

the intense 3 hour battle turns out in chinese's favour as at 45 faced a BP which Zhou Yi grabbed it with both hands for a 36 63 46 win.

[jayakris]

Mukund went 1 of 10 in BPs in the match, as Yi Zhou seems to be a very strong server. 15 aces and 2 DFs in the match (MS was 4 and 7). Zhou won 105 pts to 96 by Mukund, but when the ball was in play, it was 74 by Zhou and 89 by Mukund. Basically the serve points were the issue. Mukund got broken only twice (from at 4 BPs).

Mukund had him serving at 18 deuces in this match, but broke him only ONCE. That is sad. It shows how Yi served his way out of trouble. On his side, Mukund has never really been too good at fighting his way out of trouble, using his serve. He has a strong serve too, but it often deserts him when he needs it.

[Rajiv]

For the 3rd week in a row Mukund stays in Tianjin and is the 5th seed.
Compared to the previous 15's this is a 25 and Mukund is drawn to face the Chinese WC Yuquan Jin in the opening round.

Mukund needs a minimum 13 points from this tourney to prevent his ranking from dropping further , and he has earned 19 points from the previous 2 weeks in Tianjin. And after these 13 for the rest of the year has only 6 points to defend , So hopefully can collect additional precious points to push up his rankings.

[jayakris]

The rank won't drop much next week though. But the 12 Newport points drop on Jul 22nd when this week's points go in, so yes, a final this week would be great. Won't be easy.

[jayakris]

At the ITF M25 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard):

[R1] (5) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,476) d. (WC) Yuquan Jin (CHN,1052), 63 61
so
[R2] (5) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,476) vs Yun Seong Chung (KOR,589)

[jayakris]

At the ITF M25 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard):

[R2] (5) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,476) d. Yun Seong Chung (KOR,589), 46 63 62

The QF will probably be against the 2nd seed Yan Bai (CHN,288), a 35-year old veteran who is still really good and capable of winning the W25 last month in a final against Yi Zhou... So things won't be easy for Mukund.

[Rajiv]

Yes Yan Bai will not be easy ... 7 - 8 years ago Yan Bai was touted as the next big thing in Chinese Tennis until injuries took it is toll and he almost gave up , in past couple of years has been on a come back trail but not to the level he was, however still the recovery mode combined with his old potential will make it tough for Mukund , but I am still hoping for Mukund to turn the tables.

[Rajiv]

Interesting S1 between Mukund and Yan Bai.
At 2-3 Mukund got broken, and with Yan serving for 4-2, Mukund broke back to level the scores and leads 4-3 on serve

[sameerph]

From 5-3 up Mukund lost 4 straight games to lose the first set 5-7.

In second set, Mukund was again up a break 3-1 but is now back level at 3-3.

[sameerph]

Mukund lost 57 46. Was a break up in both sets but could not keep it up.