Pune ATP Challenger: Wildcards Goveas and Sureshkumar taste defeat

Aryan Goveas loses to Brayden Schnur 6-3, 6-4; Manish Sureshkumar goes down to Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-1.

Brayden Schnur proved to be a tough challenge to overcome for India's wildcard contest Aryan Goveas.

India’s two wild card recipients — Aryan Goveas and Manish Sureshkumar — found out that superior and ranked opponents are hard nuts to crack on the opening day of the $50,000 KPIT-MSLTA Challenger tennis tournament here on Monday.

Just 20, the tall and strapping Goveas was ready for a combat against Canadian Brayden Schnur.

Even as unfolding events at the Centre Court threw up a grim chance of his survival, Goveas pounded three aces in the penultimate game of the second set, but eventually capitulated 3-6, 4-6 to a player ranked 564 places above him.

After Goveas’s exit, Sureshkumar was outplayed 6-4, 6-1 by Sweden’s No. 1 hotshot Elias Ymer, who served well and deployed his repertoire of strokes, especially in the second set.

Given a wild card by the MSLTA, Sureshkumar appeared determined to make an impact, but could not match the Swede, Ymer’s all round game.

Elias Ymer was too hot to handle for Indian wildcard Manish Sureshkumar at the Pune Challenger on Monday.

  It was hot and humid and things looked promising when Goveas broke the Canadian’s opening game, but in matter of time he dropped his first service game to neutralise the advantage.

As the set progressed, it became evident that Schnur was a high-quality player, revealing his skill and power to fire aces, effect good return of serves, and generally keen to take the dominant position.

Schnur — who went down in straight sets to Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the semifinals of the Bengaluru Open — benefited from a double fault by Goveas in the eighth game and held serve without much fuss to win the first set.

The Indian did not waste time to win the opening game of the second set, sending down two aces, but Schnur proceeded in an aggressive vein and was in full control of the match. Two rallies in the third and sixth game  thrilled  the sparse crowd in the stands, but after breaking Goveas in the fifth, Schnur tightened his grip and recorded a solid win.

"I played some loose shots in the second game after breaking him in the opening game (of the first set). After the Bengaluru Open, I played better here, but I gave points on unforced errors ’’ said Goveas.
  

Results - First Round (Indians unless specified):

Brayden Schnur (Can) bt Aryan Goveas 6-3, 6-4; Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-4, 6-1; Danier Masur (Ger) bt Jelle Sels (Ned) 6-4, 6-4; Nicola Kuhn (Esp) bt Andrej Martin (Svk) 6-2, 6-3; Jay Clarke (G.Br.) bt Cem Ilkel (Tur) 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2; Max Purcell (Aus) bt James Ward (G.Br.) 6-4, 6-4.

Qualifying (Final round):

Francesco Vilardo (Ita) bt Danylo Kalenichenko (Ukr) 6-3,5-7,7-5; Ben Patael (Isr) bt Viktor Durasovic (Nor) 4-6, 6-3,6-4; Lucas Gerch (Ger) bt Benjamin Hassan (Ger) 6-4,6-0; Sebastian Fanselow (Ger) bt Mick Lescure (Fra) 6-4,5-7,6-2.