Bopanna-sharan duo in final, Raina gets bronze
PALEMBANG:THE Indian men’s tennis doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan registered a hard fought victory to enter the final on Thursday.
Bopanna and Sharan beat Japanese duo of Kaito Uesugi and Sho Shimabukuro 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in an hour and 12 minutes.
The Japanese pair lacked the power and big serve of the Indians but made up with accurate placements and some good work at the net. Playing against more experienced and higher ranked opponents, Kaito and Sho did well to win the first set.
The second set went with the serve till the Indians earned their first break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Serving for the set, Divij conceded a 0-40 deficit before fighting back to 40-40 and eventually holding serve to draw level. The Indians then won the tie-breaker to enter the final. after a straight sets loss to Chinese top seed Zhang Shuai. Despite not being fully fit, Ankita gave a spirited fight against a much higher ranked opponent, who is more than 150 places above her in the WTA rankings.
After losing the first set, Ankita fought back and almost won the second set before going down 4-6, 6-7 in a tough, long drawn battle that lasted two hours and 11 minutes.
BOPANNA-RAINA LOSE
Later, Bopanna and Raina lost their quarter-final against local players Christopher Rungkat and Aldila Sutjiadi 6-4, 1-6, 10-6.
PRAJNESH IN SEMIS
Prajnesh Gunneswaran also assured himself of at least a bronze after entering the men’s singles semis. The Indian beat South Korean Soonwoo Kwon 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(8).