Gojo Upsets Vukic At Bengaluru Tennis Open

Borna Gojo (photo: Bengaluru Open)

BENGALURU/STARNBERG, February 9, 2022

It was a cruel day for the favourites at the Bengaluru Tennis Open as all three seeded players in action lost their second-round matches on Wednesday. First, it was Chun-hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei, who knocked out fourth seed Hugo Grenier of France 6-1, 6-4 on Centre Court of the KSLTA Tennis Stadium.

The former Junior World No. 1 took some time to warm up taking more than seven minutes to wrap up the first game after being 40-0 up. Breaks in the fourth and seventh game helped the 20-year-old to secure the first set 6-1. The second set saw Grenier stage a comeback until the fifth game where he lost his serve thanks to two double faults, which proved crucial and paved the way for Tseng’s win after one hour and 33 minutes.

Later, qualifier Borna Gojo of Croatia sent third-seeded Australian Aleksandar Vukic packing following a 7-5, 6-3 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the ATP Challenger Tour 80 hard-court tournament.

World No. 288 Gojo lost his serve in the third game and was down 1-3 by the next. However, he made a brilliant recovery, winning the next three games including a break and grabbed the first set by achieving another break in the 12th game. The second set went with the serves until the 23-year-old from Split broke Vukic’s serve to lead 4-2 and wrapped up the match after one hour and 33 minutes.

“I didn’t have much practice during the pandemic but of late my game is falling shape and I am playing well,” said a visibly tired Gojo, who has played four matches in a row.

Gojo will next play Belgian Kimmer Coppejans, who edged out fifth seed Altug Celikbilek of Turkey to make it to the stage of the final eight along with another qualifier Gabriel Decamps of Brazil, who labored hard to beat Italian Gian Marco Moroni 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3) in a three-hour and five-minutes battle.

Wednesday Results

Singles – Second Round

Q-Borna Gojo (CRO) bt 3-Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) 7-5, 6-3; Chun-hsin Tseng (TPE) bt 4-Hugo Grenier 6-1, 6-4; Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) bt 5-Altug Celikbilek (TUR) 7-6 (12), 6-3; Q-Gabriel Decamps (BRA) bt Gian Marco Moroni (ITA) 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3).

Doubles – Second Round

1-Jeevan Nedumchezhiyan (IND)/Purav Raja (IND) bt ALT-Borna Gojo (CRO)/Dimitar Kuzmanov (BUL) 6-4, 6-7 (2), 10-8; Steven Diez (CAN)/Malek Jaziri (TUN) bt Alt-Raul Brancaccio (ITA)/Johan Nikles (SUI) 5-7, 6-4, 10-6; 3-Saketh Myneni (IND)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Markos Kalovelonis (GRE)/Toshihide Matsui (JPN) 6-3, 6-3; Hugo Grenier (FRA)/Alexandre Muller (FRA) bt Enzo Couacaud (FRA)/Andrew Harris (AUS) 6-2, 4-6, 11-9; 4-N Sriram Balaji (IND)/Vishnu Vardhan (IND) bt Mathias Bourgue (FRA)/Kimmer Coppejans (BEL) 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.