India’s Suresh Dhakshineswar and British partner Luca Pow caused a big upset in the first round of the doubles event at this week’s ATP 250 Winston-Salen Open with a win over sixth seeds Ariel Behar/ Andrés Molteni in a deciding match tiebreak.
Dhakshineswar/ Pow, who play together for Wake Forest University in the NCAA US College circuit, took an early break to go up 2-0 in the first set and held on to their serve to claim the opening set 6-4. The second set went with serve for the first 11 games before Behar/ Molteni broke in the 12th game to win it 7-5.
The Indo-British duo, who received a wildcard into the main draw, regained the momentum to win the deciding match tiebreak 10-8 and advance to the last eight where they will meet Gonzalo Escobar/ Aleksandr Nedovyesov. This is Dhakshineswar’s first ATP Tour main draw appearance.
On Sunday, Dhakshineswar went down in his final round qualifying match of the singles draw. After beating world No 337 Alexey Zakharov in straight sets in the opening round, the 24-year-old Indian was defeated by 18-year-old American Learner Tien, ranked No. 232 in the world, in straight sets, 3-6, 4-6.
Nagal heads to New York for the US Open after first round loss
India’s top-ranked singles player, Sumit Nagal, also saw his singles campaign at the tournament come to an end on Sunday as he was defeated 4-6, 2-6 by former world No. 12 Borna Coric, of Croatia. Nagal, who turned 27 last week, now heads to New York for the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season which begins on Monday August 26, 2024.
The Sportz Planet Desk,
Haresh Ramchandani
