2011 Aircel Chennai Open: Monday Review
One of the opening events in the regular ATP Tour, the Aircel Chennai Open officially kicked off its week long run at the SDAT Tennis Stadium in Chennai.
First up, qualifying round finalists took to the two courts with the winner securing a spot in the main draw.
Second seeded French, Edouard Roger-Vasselin moving past local Shahbaaz Khan and Serb Franco Skugor ensured a spot for himself in the finals where he met fifth seed Milos Raonic from Canada. Winning the first set in tiebreaker (7-6(2)), Roger-Vasselin lost
the second set 6-3 to play his second three setter in two days. A hard fought battle between the two, took the decider into tiebreaker. Winning it 7-6(5), Roger-Vasselin was able to gain acceptance into the main draw where he will play fourth seeded compatriot
Richard Gasquet.
While these two battled it out in the centre court, Alexandre Kudryavstev met Andre Pavic for their qualifying round final. Kudryavstev moved into the finals after doing away local Purav Raja and American Rajeev Ram. Although, the Russian suffered a minor
setback in the second with a bagel loss, his twin set score of 6-2 in the opener and the decider was able to secure him a spot in the main draw. Kudryavstev goes on to meet local wildcard entrant, Yuki Bhambri later in the event.
Following the French and the Canadian on the centre court, was top seed Go Soeda as he met unseeded David Goffin in the qualifying final. Enjoying a straight set victory of 6-3, 6-4 over Soeda, Goffin was able to gain acceptance into the main draw where
he is to face local Somdev Devvarman. Goffin had earlier defeated local Akash Wagh and Czech Ivo Minar to make his way into the qualifying final.
The last qualifier to gain acceptance into the main draw was eighth seeded Japanese, Yuichi Sugita. Having defeated local Ranjeet Virali and receiving a walk over against Leos Friedl, Sugita met fourth seed Konstantin Kravchuk in the qualifying final. Enjoying
a straight set victory of 6-2, 6-3 in eighty one minutes, Sugita was able to move into the main draw where he meets German Dustin Brown.
Kicking off the first round matches in Court 1 was Bjorn Phau pitted against Simone Bolelli. Serving two aces with a loss of only eleven points, Phau was able to wrap up the match in seventy four minutes with a twin set score of 6-2, 6-2. As these two met
on Court 1, Robert Kendrick from United States defeated Phau’s compatriot Denis Gremelmayr. Although, the German put up a fight in the first set taking it into tiebreaker, he eventually lost it 7-1 to the American. Continuing his form into the second set,
Kendrick was able to secure a 6-4 victory. In a match that lasted seventy seven minutes, Kendrick served twelve (12) aces, committing six (6) double faults and losing only twenty two (22) points on service. Phau will face either Roger-Vasselin or Gasquet in
the second round, while Kendrick meets Jeremy Chardy or Blaz Kavcic in same.
The first round matches for the day were wrapped up with sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic, Stephane Robert and Ivan Dogig emerging victorious in their respective matches.
Robert defeated Andreas Haider-Maurer in straight sets of 6-4, 6-4 losing only fourteen points on service while Dogig did away with Marcos Daniel from Brazil with a twin set score of 6-2, 6-2. Following defending champion Marin Cilic’s loss to Kei Nishikori
earlier in the day, Tipsarevic was the only seed to move ahead on Monday. Meeting Eduardo Schwank, Serbia’s Davis Cup hero served nine aces, committed only two double faults and lost a total of twelve points to move into the second round of the event.
Robert moves ahead to play either Xavier Malisse or Marsel Ilhan while Dogig will play the winner of Tomas Berdych vs. Frederico Gil. Tipsarevic’s next opponent might be local Bhambri if the latter succeeds in defeating Kudryavstev.
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