Tennis Roundup | Sasi Kumar Mukund advances to pre-quarters as Arjun Kadhe bows out

Tennis Roundup | Sasi Kumar Mukund advances to pre-quarters as Arjun Kadhe bows out

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Indian tennis had a mixed day with Sasi Kumar Mukund advancing to the pre-quarter finals of the Gwangju Challenger in South Korea by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Aldin Setkic while Arjun Kadhe was humbled by Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild in the Samarkand Challenger, Uzbekistan.

Facing an opponent 14 positions below him, Mukund was the clear favourite to advance into the next round and the inevitable happened with Setkic hardly having any chance throughout the games. Mukund started strongly in the first set breaking the Bosnian in the second and fourth game comfortably to win it 6-1.

The second set was expected to be competitive and although Setkic couldn’t break Mukund, he held his mast steady for long this time, before he eventually broke him in the seventh and the ninth game to win the second set 6-3. In the pre-quarters, Mukund would be facing Japan’s Yusuke Takahashi.

Arjun Kadhe had been playing in Uzbekistan and was up against Brazil’s Thiago Seyboth Wild, who is 34 places above him in World ranking. The Indian was clearly not the favourite to go through and he lived up to the expectations.

The first set was a clear example of how much superiority the Brazilian held over the Indian as he went on to win it 6-0 as Kadhe was broken in the second, fourth, and sixth game. The second set saw the Indian showing some fight and had he not got broken in the ninth game, he might have had some chance. Instead, he had to settle for a 6-3 loss. 

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