MDP Live - Australian tennis player, Aleksandar Vukic fought it out as he started the Maharashtra Open 2022 season in Pune, India.
Having lost the first set, the world number 140 defended as hard as possible to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 over Frenchman Hugo Grenier and book a second round match against second seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Looking forward to playing against Italian Musetti, Vukic said, “He's one of those young players who are really trying to hit the ground running. It's going to be a great game but I'm feeling great and it's going to be a great game for both of us."
The tennis player who has progressed to the second round of the Australian Open this season, needs extra hard work to book a place in the second round of the Maharashtra Open in Pune, to be precise he needed 2 hours 21 minutes.
"It was a very physical match. I thought I played a little sloppy in the first set, but then I started to find some of my best performances. Struggled a few games, went 3-1 up in the third set, and kudos to him, he kept fighting and he broke me. To be honest, the game could have ended otherwise, but the first game is always difficult, so I'm happy with this win."
In other action, second seed Emil Ruusuvuori went through a tough second set before thrashing Belarusian Egor Gerasimov 6-0, 7-6. Finland's Ruusuvuori will next face Czech Vit Kopriva who crippled Turkey's Cem Ilkel 6-4, 6-1.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese tennis player, Joao Sousa also had to fight hard for 2 hours 26 minutes to carve out a 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 victory over the host player who received a wildcard, Arjun Kadhe.
"It was a tough match against the home team. I know I might have been a little bit better at my level but it was definitely a tough match after a set down and a very tight second set. In the end, I managed to shoot some impressive punches to get my level up a little bit higher,” explained Sousa.
