Mukund Sasikumar thread

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 75 in Wuxi, China (Hard)

[Q1] Mukund Sasikumar (IND,471) l. (1) Ricardas Berankis (LTU,324), 57 76(4) 06

[jayakris]

At the Challenger 75 in Taipei, Taiwan (Hard)

[Q1] (6) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,470) vs (WC) Kuan-Yi Lee (TPE,966)

[sameerph]

Mukund starts with a straight sets win.

At the Challenger 75 in Taipei, Taiwan (Hard)

[Q1] (6) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,470) d. (WC) Kuan-Yi Lee (TPE,966) 63 64

Next,

[Q2] (6) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,470) vs. Tomohiro Masabayashi (JPN,1225)

[jayakris]

Mukund's match got rained out on Monday in Taipei, as he was up a break early and serving at 2-1. To continue on Tuesday, and if he qualifies, he may have to play the R1 also tomorrow.

[sameerph]

Yes, all 16 first round matches scheduled tomorrow. So, if Mukund wins he will have to play 2 matches tomorrow unless there in another rain interruption.

[jayakris]

[Q2] (6) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,471) d. Tomohiro Masabayashi (JPN,1225), 61 67(4) 61
so
[R1] (Q) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,471) vs (2) James Duckworth (AUS,102), Today itself

Horrible scheduling. They schedule him after just RamK's match between his quaifying match and his match, on the same court. Just about a couple of hours rest is all Mukund will get.

[sameerph]

Mukund lost in straight sets against second seed.

[R1] (Q) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,471) l. (2) James Duckworth (AUS,102) 36 46

[jayakris]

That was sad. Tough to play the 2nd seed in a second match of the day, with just 2 hours of break. But then again, I don't know why Mukund lost focus and dropped the middle set and wasted an extra hour on a lost tiebreaker set. Mukund still has this habit of losing focus out of the blue for some 3 or 4 points and making some mistakes. Not blunders, but hitting a shot too soft or too hard for no reasons. But I am glad that he at least got 4 points for qualifying in, and actually played quite well today in two matches.

[Rajiv]

^^^ while watching the S2 stopped watching when he lost that set to a 26 yr old whose CH is in 1000's, and thought Mukund's days were numbered .

But watching him play against Duckworth changed that opinion and you ( Jay) are right burnt up lot of fuel in that S2 and a fitter fresh legs would have made him repeat his success over Duckworth like he did it in Australia some time ago
Compared to R1 his shots had lot of pace and looked focus , getting break backs and even in S1 had the Aussie on 15-40 on his serve and a much fitter Mukund would have performed differently.

A week's rest as he has skipped Georgia next week and then off to USA for Challengers which is correct decision as the bulk of players would be in Europe on Grass and Clay , and Ram too has followed the USA route after Georgia.

[sameerph]

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.

[jayakris]

At the ITF M15 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard), Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) is the top seed and beat Bang Shuo Yin (TPE,817), 62 62

Mukund finally gets an easy win at a lower event. Hope he has mentally adjusted to the idea of staying focused to beat lower ranked players, and is ready to make a run. He can use some points.

[jayakris]

[R2] (1) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) d. (WC) Linghao Zhang (CHN,1298), 63 64

[jayakris]

At the ITF M15 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard):

[QF] (1) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) d. (6) Tsung-Hao Huang (TPE,649), 61 46 76(5)

Mukund was cruising at first and was up a break at 61 10, when the match got very tight and he started getting broken multiple times. 3 times in the second set and 2 times in the third. He kept breaking back too, though... He was down 2-5 in the final tiebreaker and won the next 5 points to take the match, so it seems like he was determined not to lose today, against a good player who was close to ATP 500 last year.

[SF] (1) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) vs (Q) Zhenxiong Dong (CHN,1313)

[jayakris]

At the ITF M15 in Tianjin, CHN (Hard):

[SF] (1) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) d. (Q) Zhenxiong Dong (CHN,1313), 75 62
so
[F] (1) Mukund Sasikumar (IND,479) vs (7) Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul (THA,734)

That must hurt for the Chinese, to see and Indian and a Thai in the final at a Tianjin event. Mukund can use some points, and he got 8 today. Make it 15 tomorrow, my man!

[sameerph]

Yes, Mukund has 32 points to defend in July. So, he needs to earn those soon. Also to increase his confidence.