In the pre-quarterfinal matches played at the Davangere Tennis Association courts here on Thursday, 24-year-old Manish edged past third seed Digvijay Pratap Singh in a close encounter 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) while qualifier Madhwin battled past fourth seed Florent Bax of France 7-6 (4), 6-7 (4), 6-4 in a match that lasted 3-hours and 13 minutes.
In the other upsets of the day, Karan Singh showed sixth seed SD Prajwal Dev the door with a 6-1, 6-4 victory while in a minor upset, winner of the last leg, Ramkumar Ramanathan brushed aside the challenge of seventh seed Rishab Agarwal 6-0, 6-3.
While Florent Bax, who had won the Ahmedabad leg of ITF 15K about 9 days ago, had confidence and experience in his armour, former Junior National Champion Madhwin had the determination and resilience.
With a break in the fifth game and holding onto his serve, the Indian went 4-2 up but soon Florent, not only levelled at 4 but went ahead 5-4. Both the players traded a break each before the set was decided via tie-breaker with the younger opponent winning at 4.
The 21-year-old Madhwin whose roots belong to Mangaluru in Karnataka but lives in Gujarat, capitalised on his rival’s mistake and raced to a 5-2 lead.
However, he lost his rhythm while on the cusp of grabbing the match as Florent saved two match points before winning the second set which was decided via tie-breaker.
The final set saw Madhwin taking control of the match with a 5-1 lead, courtesy breaks in the first and fifth games. However, the Frenchman clawed back into the game wining three consecutive games and reduced the margin to 4-5 before Madhwin served out for the match.
–IANS
hs