Chennai: He poses no threat to any player and admits as much. For Sunil Kumar Sipaeya, it's time to enjoy his game and savour the small victories that come with it.
For someone, who won the senior National title at the age of 16, it has been a long journey with a lot of pitfalls. But, he has taken everything in his stride and continues to give it all to a sport that has given him so much recognition.
The 28-year-old qualifier didn't dish out huge serves or play or run hard. But he played shrewdly against Vivek Shokeen to register a 6-2, 7-5 win in the first round of the TNTA-SAIL International Tennis Federation $10,000 men's Futures tournament at the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium here on Tuesday.
Poor First Set
Vivek played poorly in the first set committing several unforced errors, spraying the ball all over the court. Sunil didn't exert himself ensuring that he just held serve. When Vivek raised his game in the second, Sunil didn't lag behind.
“I have had my share of back problems for the last couple of years. I am not expecting anything from the tournament. I am just enjoying myself. I like travelling.
“I am not competing with anybody,” said Sunil, who shuttles between California (where he trains), Kolkata (where he works with Indian Oil Corporation) and Himachal Pradesh (where his parents reside).
Top-seeded Junn Mitsuhashi of Japan defeated Spain's Jaime Pulgar-Garcia 7-5, 6-3 in two hours in a first round contest.
The Japanese lost his cool when he was given a point penalty in the fourth game of the second set at 30-all on the Spaniard's serve. After clearing the issue with ITF supervisor Sheetal Iyer, Mitsuhashi went about his task in all earnest.
The results (Indians unless otherwise mentioned):
First round: Singles: Sidharth Rawat bt Neeraj Elangovan 6-3, 6-0; Ivan Arenas-Gualda (Esp) bt Chandril Sood 6-0, 6-4; Arun Prakash bt P. Vignesh 7-6(4), 6-4; Sunil Kumar Sipaeya bt Vivek Shokeen 6-2, 7-5; Rohan Gajjar bt Elwin Antony 6-1, 6-1; Ankit Sachdeva bt Rithvik Anand 6-3, 6-3; Junn Mitsuhashi (Jpn) bt Jaime Pulgar-Garcia (Esp) 7-5, 6-3; James Marsalek (GBR) bt Vignesh Veerabadran 6-3, 6-1; Rakshay Thakkar bt Saurabh Singh 0-6, 6-3, 6-0; Mohit Mayur bt Jason Jung (USA) 6-3, 3-6, 5-1 (conceded); Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (Esp) bt Shahbaaz Khan 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (second round): N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Arun Prakash bt Elwin Antony & Neeraj Elangovan 6-4, 6-4; Rohan Gajjar & Vijay Kannan bt Ajai Selvaraj & Sunil Kumar Sipaeya 6-2, 6-2; N. Sriram Balaji & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Yu Chang (Chn) & James Marsalek (GBR) 5-7, 7-6(7), 10-8; Mohit Mayur & Saketh Myneni bt Vivek Shokeen & Karunuday Singh 7-6(2),6-2.
The Hindu