Harsh Mankad is taking small steps to regain lost ground on the ATP tour. His latest stride came at the expense of up-and-coming Indian Navdeep Singh at the of the US $10,000 ITF Futures in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Mankad used his experience and Navdeep's restricted movement to clinch the second round match 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in three hours and 16 minutes.
"It is one of my better wins since the comeback," said Mankad, who resumed on the circuit after a year-long injury lay-off. "I just tried to keep things simple and execute them. I could see that Navdeep wasn't able to chase wide balls and caught him there."
Navdeep started the match on a high, getting an early break and countering Mankad's charge at the net with some precise passing shots. Though he failed to serve out the set at 5-4, he won the tie-break 7-4.
Mankad was two points away from defeat at serving 30-30, down 4-5 in the second set. But the Mumbai player made his serve count and then went on to break Navdeep in the 11th game.
Navdeep, the only Indian to qualify for the ATP Mumbai Open last September, said he sprained his hip at the end of the second set and hence could not put up a better fight in the decider.
"I took a break after the set and tried to stretch, but the pain just wouldn't go," the 22-year-old explained. "I knew the trainer also couldn't help me at that time so I continued like that. Mentally I was fine, but I guess physically, my body just gave up. I just couldn't move in the third set
"I almost had Harsh today. I have a lot of respect for him; his experience also helped. A lot of guys could've given up after the first set, but he didn't. He was more aggressive at the net, and his shot selection was better."
Mankad will face Sri Lanka's Harshana Godamanne in the quarter-finals. Godamanne, the only Sri Lankan on the ATP list had beaten the top seed Bogdan-Victor Leonte in straight sets in the first round and scored another straightforward 6-2, 6-2 win over Vijayant Malik.
Also advancing to the last eight were India's Divij Sharan, seeded fifth, and Purav Raja.
The left-handed Sharan made up for the lack of power with his court craft, using the aggressive lob and fine pick-up volleys, to down the big-serving Rohan Gajjar 7-6, 6-4.
Raja, who knocked out third seed Aqeel Khan in the opening round, continued his impressive run with a commanding 6-2, 6-2 win over Katushi Fukuda of Japan.
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