PANJIM: Yuvraj Patil eased through to the next round with a thumping win over Sunil Shanbag (6-0) on the opening day of the sixth edition of the Gaspar Dias Open 2021 which commenced with the veteran’s category at the blue courts of the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Miramar and Panjim Gymkhana at Campal.
As a result of over 490 entries, the games are being played across two venues this year.
Yuvraj was in sublime form as he raced to a 2-0 lead within minutes. With the morning session witnessing some great games Yuvraj continued his form to win the set and game 6-0 to make it into the next round. In the other games, Rajendra Godinho got the better of Prabhakar 6-3. Rajendra in spite of a slight knee injury overcame Prabhakar who had earlier in the day won his opening game against Anil Karande 6-0 but had to succumb to the clinical play from Rajendra Godinho.
In the subsequent games, Ashutosh Pednekar won the game with a margin of 6-0 over Anil Verma followed by Annamalai K winning against Ashok RG with a score line of (6-4) while the morning also saw some other outstanding games where in Swapnil Uday Shah won against Nandeesh (7-6) followed by Jitendra Kewal winning his game against Harish Karekar (6-1).
Continuing the morning session, Pradyuman C won against Ramesh Karande (7-5) while Somnath Gharge won against Biju Mathew (7-6). Both the games same some exciting rallies and close calls as the each one held on to their game. Rounding up the morning session at the Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias was Hudli winning against Sharad Walavalkar (6-3)
Over to the courts at the Panjim Gymkhana, Kothyala Murthy won over Girish Kudsomannawar (6-0). Kothyala dominated from the very start of his game. With some sublime serve and returns, Kothyala made it to the second round. Jason Cowell playing against Pawansigh Mokshi came out triumphant (6-1).
On his way to the quarter-finals, Ketan Bedekar continued his good form to win over Amol Atigre (6-0). Other winners on the day were Pralay Bakshi against Raju Y (6-0), Swapnil Bugde against Mansingh Patil (6-0) while on court two Jayant Yewale won against Shiv Mohan Sharma (6-3), SP Vijay against Satish Nesari (6-1), Ben Craven against Rajeev Mane (6-1) followed by Noel Noronha against Vijay Mangaonkar (6-2) followed by Sachin Dukle against Prashant Badagi (6-0) followed by Raul Rai against Sachin Jagdale (6-3).
