Unseeded Ravikiran stuns Sikanov

But it was Bhat who stole the show in front of the home crowd. The confidence-boosting victory pleased his doctor-father and his coach, who, however modestly said that Ravi should do still better.

Ravikiran, the 18-year-old lad from Bangalore, thus added one more creditable victory since jumping into the men’s circuit two years ago.

Sikanov, known for big serves and attacking game, was off-colour today. A tough fight was expected on the court but Ravikiran, who managed to pocket the first set (though withan erring serve and unforced errors), put aside his shortcomings in the second to demolish the Russian with ease.

Ravikiran started off with a bang breaking Sikanov’s serve in the first game and holding the second to lead 2-0. However, the Russian fought back by winning the next two games. The pattern was repeated for the following four games. The games were hard fought but unforced errors by both players lost their respective serves. It was in the ninth game that Ravikiran achieved the crucial break and served for the set with success sealing the set at 6-4.

In the second set, Ravikiran was confidence personified. He pounced on every opportunity that came his way and unsettled his opponent. Ravikiran did not concede a single serve and two breaks in the third and seventh game were enough to fetch him a well-deserved win at 6-2.

Results

First round: Harsh Mankad (Ind) bt Syed Fazaluddin (S-3) (Ind) 6-3, 6-2; Mustafa Ghouse (Ind) bt Vijendra Laad (Ind) 7-6 (3), 6-4; Vishal Uppal (Ind) NitinKirtane (Ind) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; Derepasko Artorn (S-2) (Rus) bt Benjamin Xavier (Ind) 6-0, 6-3; Anand Radhakrishnan (Ind) bt Khalid (Pak) 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-1; Ravikiran Bhat (Ind) bt Sikanov Alexandre (S-5) (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; Bourke Stevan (Aus) bt Sandeep Kirtane (S-7) (Ind) 6-2, 1-0 (retd hurt); Vasudeva Reddy (Ind) bt Sherazi Syed Nasir (Pak) 6-3, 6-2; Le Minh (US) bt Basappa Keerthi (Ind) 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4; Saurav Panja (Ind) bt Ford Ashley (Aus) 6-3, 3-0 (retd hurt); Shilesh Dhoble (Ind) bt Avinash Arun (Ind) 6-3, 6-4.