European Challengers 2020

[jaydeep]

And he won ...

[R1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,279) bt (PR) Arthur De Greef (BEL,288) 67(5) 76(3) 76(2)

Impressive match stats from both players.

[jayakris]

Man, Mukund! ... That is a certified barn-burner. Tremendous win.

Thanks jaydeep for the match stats. That is about as impressive and close as we can ever get in a match, from both guys. Just one break by each guy in a 2 hour 48 minute 3-set match?? How is that even possible, to serve that well and keep holding? 16 aces to just 3 DFs by Mukund (and 16 and 4 by DeGreef too).

[arjun2761]

And he comes thru in best of 3 tie breaks.

At €92K+H Pau Challenger 2020, France

[R1] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,279) d.(PR) Arthur De Greef (BEL,288) 67(5) 76(3) 76(2)

De Greef was a solid top 200 player till last June after he seemed to have got injured and did not play for second half of last year. )

De Greef is currently 331. Since his comeback in January 2020, he has lost all his matches to players ranked better than #300 but has generally beaten those below, so he is playing decently but isn't currently playing at pre-injury level.

[sameerph]

Sumit loses the first set 1-6.

Only 33% points won on first serve. With those kind of stats he is never going to win any matches at this level.

[jayakris]

Sumit has played some atrocious tennis in the first set at the Pau challenger. Hit a few good shots every now and then, but made so many errors too. Lost the first set 1-6. Not looking good, but he sometimes turns things around. Grenier played well annd served 7 aces, but I thought Sumit didn't even try to return some of the serves! Weird... Is he tanking or something? Maybe not. Trying to play well in the second set but still making mistakes.

Okay, he is bringing out his top game. Won about three big rallies with one Fh after another, and broke Grenier on the second BP chance. 16 31 and serving

[sameerph]

Sumit wins the second set 6-2 by breaking Grenier at love. Broke Grenier 3 times in that set and got broken once.

[sameerph]

Phew, Sumit saves 6 breakpoints in a long service game containing 20 points at the start of the third set and holds for 1-0.

[sameerph]

Pretty close fight going on in third set, on serve with Sumit leading 3-2. Grenier is putting in big serves through winning 100% points on first serve so far in this set.

[sameerph]

And after saving 3 more break points, Sumit finally broken in the seventh service game to go 3-4 down. Errors again creeping in Sumit's game now and the way Grenier is serving looks difficult now.

[sameerph]

All over.

[R2] (3) Sumit Nagal (IND,127) l. Hugo Grenier (FRA,250) 16 61 36

Grenier served incredibly well in third set, 8 aces, 80% first serve in and 100% points won first serve. Also was very good on returns. The only way Sumit would have countered that is serving big himself which he unfortunately he cannot. Overall 16 aces and 4 double faults by Grenier against 2 double faults by Sumit which is 14+ only on serve which is a huge advantage. Sumit will have to be at the top of his ground game to succeed on these fast indor hard courts which he is currently not.

[jayakris]

I also felt that the surface and the bounce were bothering Sumit. He was fighting with himself very often.

[arjun2761]

Based on the way he is currently serving, Sumit will struggle to win at the upper challenger levels on medium paced or faster courts. On indoor courts, the ball generally travels much faster through the air, so winning on even slower surfaces will be problematic for him. The only way for Sumit to win is if the serve impact is minimized and it becomes primarily a back court game.

His only chance of collecting points will be on clay although he will then have to tangle with the clay court specialists.

[jaydeep]

Mukund gave a decent fighting performance against Lacko in his straight sets loss.

At €92K+H Pau Challenger 2020, France

[R2] Sasikumar Mukund (IND,279) l (8) Lukas Lacko (SVK,168) 46 67(3)

[jayakris]

Mukund is quite clearly playing at a top 200-250 level. His ranking was there once earlier, but now it is looking quite legit. He is going to reach top-150 without too much delay, in my opinion.

[jayakris]

At €92K+H Pau Challenger 2020, France

[R1] Purav Raja (IND)/ Adil Shamasdin (CAN) l. Antonio Sancic (CRO)/ Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (AUT), 16 57