Karnataka’s Manish earns first ATP points at ITF Kalaburagi Open

Kalaburagi, Nov 28 (IANS) It was 13th time lucky for Karnataka’s Manish Ganesh as he picked up his first ATP points, thanks to the ongoing ITF Kalaburagi Open where he won his first round match against Yuichiro Inui to enter the pre-quarterfinals at the Chandrashekar Patil Stadium here on Tuesday.

“I am so happy to secure my first ATP points after a frustrating 12 attempts,” said Manish with a chocked voice. “I had got wildcards from KSLTA twice before but this time I was determined to go beyond. When I stepped on to the court, I felt confident and after a few games, it only grew which resulted in the victory,” said the Mysorean who brushed aside his Japanese rival 6-1, 6-2 in mere 63 minutes.

“It is a boon for us to have the ITF tournaments in our country where we can pick up easy ATP points. And being closer to our homes, it saves us a huge cost of travel and accommodation and additionally we get the support of the home crowd,” said the22-year-old who began by earning a break in the very first game. Yuichiro, who has had a career best ranking of 862 on the ATP last year could hold on to his serve once in the set i.e. in the third game. Manish’s movement on the court was the key feature in his victory and was successful in lobbing the ball on many occasions whenever Yuichiro attacked the net.

The thought of earning an ATP point distracted the young Indian Army jawan for a moment as he lost his serve in the first game of the second set but soon recovered to break his opponent’s serve in the very next game. With two more breaks in the 6th and the 8th game, Manish wrapped up the set and the match.

In another interesting match of the day, India’s best junior Aryan Shah impressed with his agility to pick up the dropshots played by his opponent Adil Kalyanpur and coming up with winners. The 18-year-old entered the last 16 with a 6-4, 6-3 win.

Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated with much fanfare with Peter Vijay Kumar, Tournament Director, Allam Prabhu Patil, MLA Kalaburagi South, Fouzia Taranum, Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Kalaburagi, Shashil Namoshi, MLC, Thimmappa Kamaknur MLC amongst others.

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