India’s Yuki Bhambri pulled off a spectacular win against Canada’s Peter Polansky in round one of the Aegon Challenger on Tuesday. Bhambri had to dig deep as he saved a match point before beating Polansky 6-7(4), 7-6(7), 6-3 to enter the second round.
Unseeded Bhambri was down a match point at 6-7 in the second set’s tie-breaker before he forced a third set in a match that lasted for two hours and 35 minutes. Bhambri had seven break chances in the opening set against Polansky but unsuccessful to convert any of them.
With this win, Bhambri avenged his defeat against Polansky in the opening round of the French Open qualifiers.
“It was another battle. I had chances to break him in the first set but could not, then I was down in the second set too and saved a match point, so it was up and down. I am happy to be able to pull it off in the end. It was important as I lost a close match to him in the French Open,” said Bhambri.
In the doubles event, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and his Peruvian partner Sergio Galdos lost 6-7(5), 6-7(5) to Belarus’s Andrei Vasilevski and his Chilean partner Hans Podlipnik-Castillo.
India still have top seeds Leander Paes and Adil Shamasdin, and second seeds Purav Raja and Divij Sharan to take the court. Paes and Shamasdin will face Australian pair of Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith while Raja and Sharan will open their campaign against Victor Estrella Burgos and Darian King.