The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Jebavy rallies to beat Mankad

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Jebavy rallies to beat Mankad

Special Correspondent

GURGAON: Roman Jebavy of the Czech Republic revealed tremendous fighting spirit to overcome Harsh Mankad 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the NTA Complex here on Wednesday.

Harsh dictated terms to his talented 18-year-old opponent who had been ranked No. 3 in the junior world last year. However, Harsh lacked the physical toughness at the crunch and let his opponent off the hook after having won the first set easily and being a break-up twice in the second.

While the Indian challenge in singles got wiped out, there was bad news off the court as well, as Kamala Kannan was pushed down and punched on the face by Russian Danila Arsenov. The Russian had lost his match against Aqeel Khan of Pakistan as the umpire had slapped a point penalty on him for audible obscenity.

Annoyed at the unending barrage of abuse against India by the Russian even outside the court, Kannan who had been watching the proceedings from outside warned the Russian that he would abuse Arsenov’s country. The Russian responded with a physical assault.

The results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Mohammad Al Ghareeb (Kuw) bt Yuki Bhambri 6-3, 6-2; Andrey Kumantsov (Rus) bt Syrym Abdukhalikov (Kaz) 6-3, 5-1 (retired); Roman Jebavy (Cze) bt Harsh Mankad 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Danila Arsenov (Rus) 7-5, 6-1; Nathan Thompson (USA) bt Vijay Kannan 6-1, 6-2; Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) bt Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) 6-4, 6-1; Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) bt Rohan Gajjar 6-3, 6-2; Sun Peng (Chn) bt Idan Rosenberg (Isr) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Hsin-Han Lee (Tpe) & Wang Yu jr. (Chn) bt Roman Jebavy (Cze) & Andrey Kumantsov (Rus) 6-2, 6-3; Aqeel Khan (Pak) & Kamala Kannan bt Mithun Murali & V.M. Ranjeet 6-2, 3-6, 10-6; Tushar Liberhan & Rupesh Roy bt George Coupland (GBR) & Yuki Bhambri 2-6, 6-4, 10-6; Divij Sharan & Vishnu Vardhan w/o Syrym Abdukhalikov (Kaz) & Mohammad Al Ghareeb (Kuw).

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