Agency report
Chennai, Jan 3: India's golden run at the Chennai Open continued as Rohan Bopanna recorded a crushing win over world number 90 Cyril Saulnier of France in the first round of the ATP event at the SDAT tennis stadium on Tuesday.
The Indian qualifier triumphed 6-3, 6-3 to register his fourth straight victory at this year's edition of the tournament.
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan survived a first round scare before scraping through 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3) against Paraguay's Ramon Delgado.
'Bofors' fired on all cylinders and made the moves from back of the court in a comprehensive performance.
"The last time I played a match like that was in the Davis Cup against Holland (Martin Verkerk in 2003, which he lost 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-7(7), 10-12)," said Bopanna after the match.
He will earn 10 ATP points for making it to the second round.
The Indian, who had played three earlier qualifying matches on the same court number two, cut through the Frenchman's challenge with crisp approach shots and his serve also worked like a dream on the day.
Bopanna broke the first set deadlock in the eighth game with a forehand volley, deep into Saulnier's court. Serving for the set at 5-3, the old demons looked like haunting him again when he served two double-faults.
But it was a day where the Indian hardly went wrong, and he recorded two service winners to take the set 6-3.
"I knew I had a great chance because the guy was getting frustrated. I kept the concentration going," said Bopanna.
The 25-year-old then broke Saulnier in the first game of the second set. Twice, when the Bopanna serve looked in trouble, he replied with an ace.
Saulnier screeched in French, threw his racquet in frustration, glared at the crowd, which kept growing on the outside court as the word of Bopanna's exploits trickled out. The Indian took only 30 minutes to race through the second set, also breaking Saulnier in the last game of the set to complete a memorable win.
"Playing the qualifying rounds helped me coming into this match," Bopanna said. "I was just running on confidence after that."
Former champion Srichaphan, one of the favourites for the title, once again took time to get the engine running at full speed. After conceding the first set 4-6, he came back strongly in the second, breaking Delgado's serve in the second and fourth games to take the set 3-1.
The Thai, who was struggling on the backhand volleys, started playing to his strengths and dominated from the baseline.
Praguay's Delgado, adding to the list of serve and volleyers, at the Chennai Open and held off Srichaphan in the third set despite being break points down in the ninth and eleventh games. But Srichaphan took over in the tie-break to win it 7-3.
"I am happy I got through but it was not the ideal way to start the tournament," said Srichphan.
Bopanna will next take on giant-killer Gilles Muller of Luxemborg, who beat Razvan Sabau of Romania 6-2, 7-6.
Muller, ranked number 76 in the world, beat Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon and knocked off home favourite Andy Roddick in the first round of the US Open last year.