Sanam Singh defeats Yuki Bhambri in the second round – Shanghai Challenger 2012
World number 402, Sanam Singh of India, defeated his country’s highest ranked singles player, Yuki Bhambri, in three sets 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Shanghai Challenger on Thursday.
Singh and Bhambri held their serve in the first two games of the contest and equalised the score at 1-1. The higher ranked Indian of these two struck in the third but Singh did not take much time to square if off at 2-2. Bhambri
broke his opponent again in the fifth but once again he failed to consolidate on it, taking the score to 3-3. The following six games went with serve and the score was levelled at 6-6 to force a tie-breaker. Singh moved ahead by winning first three points
and maintained his lead till the end to win 7-6(4).
He had an extremely low first serve percentage of 45 and grabbed 13 of the 20 points on them. Singh saved one of the three break points he faced and converted two of the six he received in the first set.
Bhambri showed his real game in the second set, as he grabbed opening three games to take a 3-0 lead. Singh broke the bagel by winning his serve in the fourth but lost the next three to throw it away 1-6.
Ranked 188th in the world, Bhambri was lucky to get through the second set despite committing four double faults. The Indian player gave a stunning performance on the first returns, converting five of the six of them
into points. Bhambri put away all the four break threats he came across and availed two of three chances he created in the second set.
Both players held their serve in the first three games to take the score to 2-1 in the favour of Singh. He struck in the fourth to go up 3-1 but Bhambri broke back immediately to reduce the trail to 2-3. Singh hit a blow to his
compatriot again in the sixth and this time he capitalised on it to win 6-2.
The Indian contender fired three aces and 61 percent of the first serves, sealing 11 of the 14 points on them. He also gave a decent performance on the first and second returns.
Singh took two hours and 25 minutes to throw his compatriot out of the competition.
The Indian will take on Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu in the quarter-finals.
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