Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic beat Prakash Amritraj of India 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in an absorbing first round match that mirrored the quality of the play in the USD$380,00 Vietnam Open Tennis Tournament being held at the Phu Tho Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City today.
Vanek, 27, took 2 hours and 37 minutes – the longest stretch of play of the first round match-ups -- to subdue his younger opponent for whom the meeting was their second encounter in two years. The Czech had also triumphed in the first in India.
“He’s much improved and it was harder this time to beat him,” said Vanek after the match. “I prefer to play on clay, so I found conditions not to my liking but I managed to get better in the second set as his form declined and I knew if I held my serve, I just had to wait for him to make the mistakes to win,” explained the victor.
Amritraj, son of the celebrated Vijay Amritraj who in his heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s was in the world’s top 10 rankings, said after his defeat that he felt that match could have gone his way.
Ranked 275th in the ATP list, a gaping distance from Vanek’s 133rd placing, Amritraj added he did not think his defeat was “inevitable.”
“I had a chance to win in the tie break in the second set. The match could have gone my way,” he asserted.
Vanek will meet Cyrill Saulnier of France who is seeded No. 5 for the tournament in the second round.
