Manas rises to the occasion | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: India’s Manas Dhamne (World No. 556) turned to his Italian coach Luca Vanni in the stands, pumped his fists and let out a loud roar at the SM Krishna tennis stadium on Monday. The display of emotions were justified. The 18-year-old wildcard entrant scored a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 upset win over the fifth seed Croat Matej Dodig (231), who is ranked 325 places ahead of the Indian, to advance into the second round of the Bengaluru Open.The win is Dhamne’s maiden victory over a player in the top-250. The two-hour and five minute contest didn’t showcase the disparity in rankings, with the Indian matching his opponent shot-for-shot in a battle of youngsters on the opening day of the ATP 125 Challenger.“This is the biggest win of my career,” said an elated Dhamne, who spent almost 20 minutes with his coach, who briefed him after the match. “It is a great way to start the year. More than the win, I was happy with the way I played. There is always scope for improvement, but I am on the right track. This (victory) is a confidence booster. I will try to maintain this level of tennis in the upcoming matches as well.”There was nothing to pick between the two in the opening exchanges. Both the players came up with strong service games as Dodig remained dominant with six aces in the first set. But the Croat faltered at a crucial juncture in the 12th game. The 20-year-old’s three double faults created an opening for Dhamne, who took the chance to break serve and grab a 1-0 lead. A frustrated Dodig smashed his racquet in anger. The second set belonged to Dodig, who broke Dhamne in the fifth game to eventually force the contest into a decider.The tide changed in the third set with Dhamne, who looked strong on his backhand, stepping up a gear. He also changed his receiving strategy with Dodig not producing his dominant first serve. The Indian attacked his second serve and it worked as the Croat was erratic on his groundstrokes.Dhamne broke in the fourth and the sixth games to pick up a special win.Dhamne provided an insight into his final set strategy: “I tried something different (in the third set). He also started to miss some of his first serves. I changed my position on the return, sometimes trying to step in, sometimes stepping back and it worked.”nagal cruisesIndia No. 1 Sumit Nagal cruised into the second round of the competition with a straight-set 6-3, 6-3 victory over Karnataka’s SD Prajwal Dev in one hour and 18 minutes. Elsewhere, third seed Jay Clarke of Great Britain suffered a first round exit, going down 6-4, 1-6, 2-6 to Matteo Martineau of France in two hour and 16 minutes.Select results: Round of 32: Manas Dhamne (Ind) bt 5-Matej Dodig (Cro) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1; Sumit Nagal (Ind) bt Prajwal Dev (Ind) 6-3, 6-3; Matteo Martineau (Fra) bt 3-Jay Clarke (GBR) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; 2-Harold Mayot (Fra) bt Petr Bar Biryukov 6-1, 6-4.
