Dominant: Napolitano eased previous Uchida in straight units.
| Picture Credit score: RAGU R
Kaichi Uchida was nowhere near his finest. The 29-year-old Japanese, who had reached the semifinals of two Challengers final 12 months and was ranked on the earth’s high 150 final 12 months, hardly put a foot proper as Italy’s Stefano Napolitano, the fifth seed, scripted a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win within the first spherical of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger tennis championship right here on Monday.
Later, on the skin courts, Giovanni Fonio of Italy overcame a troublesome problem to defeat Maxime Janvier of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Uchida, ranked 137 locations beneath the Italian at 351, was approach beneath par because the latter dominated the match fully. Napolitano’s first serves (82%) had been superior to Uchida’s 57. There weren’t many lengthy rallies because the Japanese continued to make quite a few unforced errors making the Italian’s job a lot simpler.
Napolitano broke Uchida’s serve in all of the video games barring the primary. Within the second set, Uchida produced a few good backhand winners, however these had been few and much between. The truth is, The Japanese acquired a code violation within the second sport of the second set. At 30-40 on his serve, he threw the ball out of the courtroom after lacking a forehand shot. In distinction, the match between Fonio and Janvier was intense with lengthy rallies. The essential break for the Italian got here within the twelfth sport of the third set. Janvier started his serve with a double fault and ended with one other to reward the match to Fonio. Napolitano mentioned he anticipated a troublesome match.
“Outcomes would possibly say that it’s a straightforward match, however I don’t say that. I do know the worth of my opponent and his qualities. I know how he’s been profitable matches final 12 months. Particularly at this stage final 12 months. Then he dropped just a little bit,” Napolitano mentioned. S. D. Prajwal Dev of India certified for the principle draw with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Vadym Usru of Ukraine, thereby making him the lone Indian amongst 11 from the qualifiers.
The outcomes (first spherical): Stefano Napolitano (Ita) bt Kaichi Uchida (Jpn) 6-1, 6-2; Giovanni Fonio (Ita) bt Maxime Janvier (Fra) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Dominik Palan (Cze) bt Arthur Weber (Fra) 6-1, 6-4; Dan Added (Fra) bt Akira Santillan (Aus) 2-6, 6-4, 4-1 (retd.).
