Tough Asian Games singles draw for India; doubles best bet
India have been handed a challenging draw in the Asian Games men’s singles tennis competition, with seventh seed Sumit Nagal facing a particularly demanding route to the medal rounds, while 11th seed Dhakshineswar Suresh too has a tricky path in his half featuring Chinese third seed Wu Yibing.
Nagal, seeded seventh, has received a first-round bye and will open his campaign against South Korea’s Hong Seongchan, who is now ranked way below the Indian but is a tough nut to crack.
Both Nagal and Hong were part of the recent India-Korea Davis Cup tie. Hong is returning to competitive tennis after serving in the Korean Army and is a very formidable rival.
A win would put the Indian in the third round against either Tajikistan’s Somon Amonov or ninth seed Sergey Fomin of Uzbekistan. The road gets considerably tougher thereafter, with third seed Wu Yibing and eighth seed Hayato Matsuoka of Japan among the seeded players in Nagal’s quarter of the draw. Wu, ranked 113, is the highest-ranked player in that section.
For Nagal, for a likely presence in the potential medal, he will need to get past Hong Seongchan in the second round, Amonov or Fomin in the third, followed by a potential quarterfinal against Wu or Matsuoka.
Nagal will need to reach the semifinals to assure himself of a medal, making the route especially demanding given the quality of players placed in his section.
Dhakshineswar Suresh, seeded 11th, has a similarly difficult route to last-four. He too has a first-round bye and will face Indonesia’s Muhammad Trismuwantara in the second round.
If he gets past Trismuwantara, he will meet either Tajikistan’s Anvar Rakhmatov or sixth seed Chun-Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei in the third round.
Dhakshineswar’s possible quarterfinal could be against Uzbekistan’s 14th seed Khumoyun Sultanov.
The men’s field is headed by Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, with Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Shevchenko, Wu Yibing and Korea’s Soonwoo Kwon completing the top four seeds. Kwon, ranked 158, has also received a bye and begins against Mongolia’s Undrakh Purevdorj.
India have no representation in the women’s singles main draw.
The women’s field is headed by top seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and second seed Zhang Shuai of China, with Yuliya Putintseva and Wang Xiyu among the other top seeds.
The singles competitions will be held from September 27 to October 3 in Nagoya at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center.
India’s best bet is men’s doubles, where N Sriram Balaji and left-handed Anirudh Chandrasekar have been given the top billing. Yuki Bhambri and Dhakshineswar are seeded fifth.
Bhambri was forced to miss the Davis Cup tie against Korea due to an injury.
“We worked on Yuki’s quadriceps tendon. He was feeling good with taping; he is feeling much better and good to go,” physio Anand Kumar told PTI.
The two Indian pairs are drawn to meet in the final.
It has been learnt that Nagal was keen to play in the doubles as well but India could have fielded only two teams and leaving out a specialist doubles player was not possible.
Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale are seeded eighth but they open against very formidable Kazakhstan team of Yulia Putintseva and Anna Danilina.
“We have been practising in Nagoya after recovering from Korea Davis Cup tie and working on acclimatisation, practicing match combinations for doubles and mixed.
“Sumit has the experience of playing at a high level and with his competitiveness and game sense, he’ll do well. Dhakshineswar, with his all-round explosive game, is a contender in every draw,” India’s men’s coach Ashutosh Singh told PTI.
“In men’s doubles, we have strong combinations. Mixed doubles has a strong field. The conditions are on the slower side only. Looking forward to all the matches,” Singh added.
In the mixed doubles, Bhambri and Bhosale are seeded second and got a first-round bye.
Balaji-Raina is the second India pair in the draw. They have been seeded fourth.
