Qualifier Hossam upsets top seed Albot in Challenger

BENGALURU: Qualifier Youssef Hossam pulled off his biggest upset win sending top seed Radu Albot of Moldavia packing in the first round of the Bengaluru Tennis Open ATP Challenger Tour on Tuesday. It wasn’t the best of the draws for the young Egyptian, ranked 483, pitted against the top seed Albot ranked 101 in the world, but the 20-year-old overcame nerves and one set deficit to oust a player who outranks him by 382 places. After Ablot breezed through the first set 6-2, Hossam pulled the match back winning the next two 6-2, 6-2.

Hossam was honest enough to admit that he was nervous at the

start but went in with the attitude that with nothing to lose and being an underdog, he would at least enjoy the game. “It’s a pretty good win. I must admit it wasn’t Hossam (EGY) bt 1-Radu Albot (MDA) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; 4-Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Ivan Nedelko (RUS) 6-2, 6-2;

the best of the draws. The first set was down to nervousness, but then I got everything going for me,” Hossam said. Albot started well winning a break in the first and third games.

But from second set onwards it went downhill for the top seed as Albot admitted that perhaps playing three matches in qualifiers gave his opponent an edge and was better used to the conditions. Hossam fired five aces to Albot’s three and showed better composure in closing the match. Hossam broke Albot in fourth and eight games, while conceding a break in the third. “The first set was a fight against myself. I had been playing well the whole week. Today, I played well in the second half of the match as I started returning more balls, it put pressure on him(albot),” Hossam said, who broke the top seed thrice in the fourth, sixth and eighth games in the last set. Hossam is all set to take on Saketh Myneni in the second round

Meanwhile, it proved to be an easy outing for Indian fourth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran as he defeated Ivan Nedelko of Russia 6-2, 6-2 in 55 minutes. Gunneswaran, ranked 144, who has one final and one semifinal appearance to his credit in the ATP Challengers this year, said, he is focused on building on the good work done this year.

“My returns and attacking game has improved. I am happy with the win and have few more tournaments to go this year,” the 28-year-old said. Lucky loser Zizou Bergs made most of the second chance defeating Kevin Krawietz of Germany 6-1, 6-2.