TASHKENT, October 12, 2015
Fourth seed Yuki Bhambri of India, seventh seeded Evgeny Donskoy of Russia and eighth seeded Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan sailed into the second round of the US-$ 125000 Tashkent ATP Challenger being held at the Olympic Tennis School in Tashkent.
In the opening round matches fourth seeded and 105 ranked Bhambri took one hour and 17 minutes to score a 6-4,6-2 win over Estonian Jurgen Zopp, while seventh seeded Russain Evgeny Donskoy took under a hour to demolish country mate Alexev Vatutin 6-3,6-3. Local star an eighth seeded Farrukh Dustov fired 12 aces on his way to a 6-2,7-5 win over Aldin Setkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in one hour 20 minutes.
Qualifier Sergey Betov of Belarus set up a 6-4,6-2 win against local wildcard Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev to make it to the second round.
23 year old Bhambri who is inching towards the top 100 looked solid in the match against the 158th ranked Jurgen Zopp winning 6-4,6-2 in one hour 17 minutes. In the first set Bhambri broke Zopp in the seventh game and took the set 6-4 . In the second set Bhambri broke the 27 year old Estonian in the third and the seventh games and won the set 6-2 and a place in the last sixteen.
Yuki Bhambri (photo: Tashkent Challenger)
“The first match of any event is always tough and tricky, This was particularly a tough first round as Zopp is a good player, but happy to get through “ said Bhambri after the match. Bhambri will take on Croatian Nikola Mektic who scored a easy 6-2,6-3 win against Mikhail Elgin of Russia
Local Davis Cup star Farrukh Dustov fresh from a Challenger win against Indian Saketh Myneni in Turkey last week looked refreshed after a week off from the tour. Dustov fired 12 aces on his way to a 6-2,7-5 win over Aldin Setkic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in one hour 20 minutes. In the first set Dustov broke twice to win the first set rather tamely. In the second Setkic found his bearings and played solidly to level scores at 5-5 , but Dustov secured a break in the 11th game and closed his service game in the 12th game.
” I feel confident and am playing well , I started well and the second set was trough but it helped me to get some time on the court”, said Dustov who awaits a second round contest against the winner of Ukrainian Denys Molchanov and Russian Konstantin Kravchuk.
Following are the results Singles ( First Round)
Yuki Bhambri (Ind) S.4 bt Jurgen Zopp (Est) 6-4,6-2
Evgeny Donskoy (Rus) S.7 bt Alexev Vatutin (Rus) 6-3,6-3.
Farrukh Dustov (Uzb) S.8 bt Aldin Setkic (BIH) 6-2,7-5
Sergey Betov (Blr) bt Shonigmatjon Shofayziyev 6-4,6-2
N ikola Mektic (Cro) bt Mikhail Elgin (Rus) 6-2,6-3
Doubles ( First Round)
Ti Chen (TPE)/ Uladzimir Ignatik (BLR) b Evgeny Donskoy (RUS), Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS)6/3, 6/2
Dudi Sela / Amir Weintraub (ISR) bt Yuki Bhambri(IND)/ Michael Venus (NZL) 6/7(3),6/4,10/6
Aliaksandr Bury (BLR)/ Denis Istomin (UZB) S.3 bt Konstantin Kravchuk(RUS),Denys Molchanov (UKR) 6-4,4-6,10-6
[WC] Sanjar Fayziev (UZB)/Djurabeck Karimov (UZB) b Nikola Mektic (CRO), Franko Skugor 6/3,6/4 [2015-10-12]
