Medjedovic overcomes De Alboran to make the last eight

Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic got the better of USA’s Nicolas Moreno De Alboran in the round-of-16 at the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger on February 22, 2023.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic battled through a tough three-setter to overcome the United States’ Nicolas Moreno De Alboran 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 and enter the quarterfinals of the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger 100, at the KSLTA courts, here on Wednesday.

Medjedovic, 19, secured a main draw place only because Frenchman and former top-10 player Lucas Pouille did not enter. But with two clinical wins, the Serb, who was handpicked by Novak Djokovic to train at his center, has capitalised well.

Against De Alboran, who finished runner-up in the Chennai Challenger last week, Medjedovic saved six of eight break-points and took three of the four on his opponent’s serve. With nearly every other statistic comparable, this ultimately proved the difference.

In doubles, India’s Sumit Nagal and Mukund Sasikumar pulled out ahead of their opening match. Nagal, who struggled physically in his singles tie on Tuesday, is due to face Australian Max Purcell, the winner in Chennai last week, on Thursday.

Other results: Chun-hsin Tseng (Tpe) bt Yu Hsiou Hsu (Tpe) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(4); Harold Mayot (Fra) bt Ryan Peniston (GBR) 7-6(5), 6-0; James McCabe (Aus) bt Marc Polmans (Aus) 7-5, 7-5.

Doubles: Anirudh Chandrasekar & N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt S.D. Prajwal Dev & Parikshit Somani 7-5, 6-2; Arjun Khade & Maximilian Neuchrist (Aut) bt Petr Nouza & Andrew Paulson (Cze) 7-6 (5), 6-4; Francesco Maestrelli (Ita) & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Colin Sinclair & Miljan Zekic (Srb) 6-2, 7-6(4); Yunseong Chung (Kor) & Yu Hsiou Hsu (Tpe) bt Purav Raja & Divij Sharan 6-4, 6-4.