Mukund Sasikumar overcame a slow start to beat Moez Echargui 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT Stadium here on Thursday.
Mukund, a local wildcard, became the second Indian to reach the last-eight stage after Sumit Nagal, seeded second, won his round of 16 match earlier on Wednesday.
World No. 292 Echargui initially got a lot of free points courtesy of big first serves down the T. He took the early lead as Mukund dropped his serve in the third game of the opening set, netting a crosscourt backhand.
However, the 31-year-old Tunisian also made numerous unforced errors, majorly from the forehand. That kept Mukund at a touching distance. The world No. 486 went on a run of 10 straight points, which included breaking Echargui’s serve in the eighth game.
Echargui managed to save a set point with an ace up the T and took the opener to tiebreak. He began with a 4-1 lead before a pair of double faults started a series of Mukund winning the next six points to bag the opener.
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Mukund broke Echargui in the first game of the set and kept his advantage despite being dragged into two long deuce games.
With the hopes of a comeback fading, Echargui dropped serve again in the ninth game to end the clash which lasted an hour and 51 minutes.
Mukund, 27, played 17 tournaments on the Challenger Tour last season but reached the quarterfinals only once. “It’s not that I felt low but I just wasn’t playing tennis at that level and I had doubts whether I could ever come back to being the best I could be. Also, I wasn’t enjoying myself,” he said.
“Everybody goes through the same. It’s only when you lock yourself, you feel the whole world is against you. I saw people still smiling and fighting in worse situations than mine and told myself that it’s probably not that bad,” he added.
Mukund will face Czechia’s Dalibor Svrcina on Friday for a place in the semifinals.
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