Goveas fourth time lucky, enters second round

PUNE: Seeking his first win at the Balewadi Stadium in four years, Aryan Goveas ticked all the boxes to advance to the second round of the KPIT-MSLTA ATP Challenger, defeating Tobias Simon of Germany 6-4, 7-6(7-4) on Monday. This was the fourth straight year Goveas entered the tournament on a wildcard and he finally justified it by entering the second round.

He will face Sumit Nagal on Wednesday. Other Indians who made it to the second round were Manish Sureshkumar, Annirudha Chandrasekar, Chandril Sood and Dhruv Sunish. Six Indians were knocked out on the first day.

“It was important for me to stay mature on the court. I was focusing more on holding my serves so that it builds pressure on the opponent,” said Goveas. This was the first time Goveas, ranked 867, was facing Simon (480) who served regularly at 220 km/hr. “I had seen him in a few tournaments. I knew I will be aced on numerous occasions but I was waiting for my chances. I got an opportunity to break him in the seventh game of the first set and did it. In the second set too I kept calm,” said Goveas who hit 11 aces compared to 15 by Simon.

Hitting slices and forehand winners accurately helped the Mumbai born player hold the upper hand in the match that lasted for an hour and 19 minutes. Khelo India under-21 champion Manish Sureshkumar was happy to secure a 6-2, 6-0 victory against local lad Anvit Bendre.

“Challengers are a completely different game. I need to continue delivering strong performances. Facing big players and playing more matches at the Challenger level will improve my game,” said Sureshkumar who will be facing 16-seeded Rio Noguchi of Japan in the second round.