Sport - Tennis

Ashutosh stuns Cervenak

Bellary: In a stunning first round upset, the National hard court champion Ashutosh Singh knocked out the top seed Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4 in the $15,000 Bellary Open ITF men’s Futures championship at the Police Gymkhana courts here on Tuesday.

Ashutosh, ranked 657, was not unduly bothered by his rival, who is 300 spots above him on the ATP rankings, sticking to a basic game of chip and charge. He also kept his volleys on target to trouble the Slovakian, who served big, but lacked consistency on his returns.

The Indian also stayed unfazed under pressure, even when he faced three break points in the second game of the second set. Right through the tie, Ashutosh kept his cool while Cervenak slammed the racquet a couple of times and swatted a ball out of the court in a show of pique, after he conceded a break.

“I am delighted with this win, beating any one who is much above you in the ranking always gives you a lot of satisfaction and confidence,” said the 25-year-old Ashutosh Singh, who also made light of the conditions. “As players, we can be complaining about the weather, the court is a bit fast here but our job is play and win,” he added.

In other matches, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya outlasted Vijay Kannan 7-5, 6-7(1), 7-5, while wild card Aditya Madkekar put up a plucky show before going down to Shivang Mishra at 6-7(9), 7-6(1), 3-6. Yuki Bhambri made a quick exit losing to the fifth seed Dekel Valtzer of Israel 1-6, 4-6.