By IANS,
Chennai : Rohan Bopanna, the Indian Davis Cup player, moved into the third round of the qualifying competition for the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 win against compatriot Sanam Singh here Sunday.
Bopanna is thus one match away from qualifying for the main draw and he takes on Germany’s Michael Berrer who defeated Ranjeet V. Murugesan of India 6-1, 6-1.
Bopanna’s victory was not as straightforward as the scores might suggest as he had to negotiate a late fightback by Sanam, the Chandigarh-born US collegian.
After taking the first set on an early service break, Bopanna led 4-0 in the second. But Sanam fought back to level at 4-all with two breaks of serve. Bopanna then brought into play his experience and wrapped up the set after breaking Sanam in the ninth game before closing the match with an ace.
Results (qualifying rounds): Rohan Bopanna (IND) bt Sanam Singh (IND) 6-3, 6-4; Michael Berrer (GER) bt Ranjeet Murugesan (IND) 6-1, 6-1; Alex Satschko (GER) bt Rohan Gajjar (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Flavio Cipolla (ITA) bt Yuichi Sugita (JPN) 6-3, 6-4; Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Oliver Marach (AUT) 6-2, 6-4; Alexandre Kudryavtsev (RUS) bt Vignesh P. Chandrasekhar (IND) 6-1, 7-6 (5); Kyu Tae Im (KOR) bt Srirambalaji Narayanswamy (IND) 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-2; Danai Udomchoke (THA) bt Louk Sorensen (IRL) 6-4, 6-4.