Gritty Gasper overcomes Sanam
Belgaum Open
Portuguese player scores straight-set win over second-seeded Indian
In one of the biggest upsets, a determined Portuguese teenager Andre Gasper Murta ousted second seed Sanam Singh in the pre-quarterfinals of the ITF Belgaum Open at the VTU Tennis complex here on Wednesday.
Davis Cupper Sanam, winner of the Davangere and Dharwad legs, went down to Murta 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in a match that lasted one hour and 42 minutes. The top seed Sriram Balaji survived a scare before overcoming teenager Mohit Mayur 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, 6-1. Balaji set up a quarterfinal face off against Dutchman Colin Van Beem, who took out Rohan Gide 6-0, 6-3.
Sanam started off confidently breaking Murta in the first and third games of the first set. Up by 3-0, Sanam failed to hold on to his service game. In the fifth game, Sanam failed to convert a breakpoint and allowed his opponent to get back into the set. Gasper then won four games in a row to take a 4-3 lead. Sanam held his serve and broke Gasper in the ninth game and stayed on course to pocket the set at 5-4. Both players traded breaks again before the set was pushed into a tie-breaker. Sanam let go of two set points and allowed Gasper to take the set.
In the second set, Gasper broke Sanam twice in the third and ninth games to take the set and match. “I had a great two weeks in Karnataka and couldn’t have asked for more. Gasper played well today and I congratulate him for the victory. I now would take a few days off probably in Goa and head to Chennai for the ATP tour,” Sanam said.
Gasper’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be eighth seeded Dutchman Jeroen Benard, who eased past 6-4, 6-4 Abhijeet Tiwari. German qualifier Torsten Wietoska rallied to beat Jatin Dahiya 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Results: Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Andre Gasper Murta (Por) bt 2-Sanam Singh 7-6 (6), 6-3; 3-Theodoros Angelinos (Gre) bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4; 6-Michael shabaz (USA) bt Luca Margaroli (Sui) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Jeroen Benard (Ned) bt Abhijeet Tiwari 6-4, 6-4; 1-Sriram Balaji bt Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-1; Torsten Wietoska (Ger) bt Jatin Dahiya 5-7, 6-1, 6-1; Ashwin Vijayraghavan bt Suraj Prabodh 6-4, 6-4; Colin Van Been (Ned) bt Suraj Prabodh 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (quarterfinals): 1-Vijaysundar Prashanth/ Arun Prakash Rajagopalan bt Kunal Anand/ Ronak Manuja 6-4, 3-6, 10-7; Amrit Narasimhan/ Michael Shabaz (USA) bt Theodoros Angelinos (Gre)/ Sanam Singh 5-7, 6-4, 10-6; 2-Sergei Krotiouk (Rus)/ Luca Margaroli (Sui) bt Jatin Dahiya/ Sahahbaz Khan 6-4, 6-4; Rupesh Roy/ Vivek Shokeen bt Sriram Balaji/ 3-Vignesh Peranamallur/ Sriram Balaji 7-6 (3), 6-3.
