Mukund Sasikumar thread

[PKBasu]

It is just getting worse and worse. Arrest the decline, man!!

[Dinesh]

Mukund finally won a round.

At the $15K Egypt Futures:

[R1] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND, 318) d. Timo Stodder (GER, 954), 64 75
[R2] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND, 318) vs Simone Roncalli (ITA, 677)

[sameerph]

Good dominating win by Mukund in second round.

At Sharm El Sheikh M15- 14A, Egypt

[R2] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) d. Simone Roncalli (ITA,677) 62 61

Next,

[QF] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) vs. (7) Aldin Setkic (BIH,505)

Sektic is a former top 200 player and beat Mukund easily 62 62 a couple of weeks back here. So, this will be a test for Mukund.

[Dinesh]

I believe he can get the win this week. Revenge time

[sameerph]

And does he gets a good revenge win today.

At Sharm El Sheikh M15- 14A, Egypt

[QF] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) d. (7) Aldin Setkic (BIH,505) 64 67(3) 61

Next,

[SF] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) vs. (4) David Poljak (CZE,470)

[arjun2761]

I think Mukund can pole-axe the Czech who appears to be a Sharm el Shiekh specialist having played 10-11 tournaments in a row there and generally winning 2-3 rounds per tournament. If Sasi shows up however....

[sameerph]

Yes, he easily beat the Czech in the semi final.

At Sharm El Sheikh M15- 14A, Egypt

[SF] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) d. (4) David Poljak (CZE,470) 63 62

Next,

[F] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) vs. (6) Paul Jubb (GBR,494)

[Omkara]

Alright buddy, give us something to cheer for this week.

[Dinesh]

Yay! Go Mukund!!!

[jayakris]

Mukund is back and Sasi is gone for now. Nice! Jay

[sameerph]

Lost in a close match in the final.

At Sharm El Sheikh M15- 14A, Egypt

[F] (1) Sasikumar Mukund (IND,318) l. (6) Paul Jubb (GBR,494) 26 76(8) 46

Mukund was down 4-5 in the second set when his opponent served for the match but Mukund broke him. But, eventually Mukund lost after being up a break in the third set.

Still, his best performance in this Egypt tour for him as he played eigth consecutive week here.

From next week, the series moves to Cairo on clay courts from hard courts of Sharm El Sheikh. But, Mukund continues there and is in the entry list for next 3 weeks at least. I guess it is a bit more challenge for Mukund to do well on clay.

[PKBasu]

This is what I wrote before the QF (but it didn't get posted because my web connection went down): Good to see him winning a couple of matches this week. Three more victories would complete the picture

Well, he's got 2 of the 3 victories I wanted, so Sasi is out and Mukund is truly back. He did it the hard way, but there can be no better way to work your way back. (And this para I posted before Sameer had posted the result of the final: sad he couldn't finish the job, but a run to the final is still a pretty good week).

[prasen9]

Given the weakness of the field and the fact that he was playing someone 180 ranks below him, this is a disappointing week. He was seeded #1 and failed to live up to his seeding. He is supposed to be beating those other guys. If he wants to move up, he should be beating these guys with ease. Let's hope this is just one match and move on. But, nothing to celebrate much in my eyes.

I do understand that this is better than what he did in the last two tournaments. But, the last two tournaments were an aberration. This performance was much better but not at par.

[sameerph]

Certainly he underperformed in the final. But,he was playing 8th consecutive week here and underperformed even more badly in the earlier weeks.

So, we were relived that he is back to some kind of decent form again.

[prasen9]

Right. Who plays 8 consecutive weeks!