After his brilliant performance throughout the week at the $50,000 Delhi Challenger held at the R K Khanna Tennis Stadium, India’s Saketh Myneni came up short in the final on Sunday as he went down to the third seed Stephane Robert in straight sets. The Frenchman beat him easily, 6-3, 6-0 in 57 minutes.
The Asian Games gold medallist’s big serve was not working that efficiently as he managed just 60 per cent of first serves and got broken five times throughout the match. He earned two break point opportunities but could not convert any of them.
The exploits of the week definitely caught up with the fourth seed who had reached the doubles final as well. On Saturday, he and Sanam Singh succumbed to a three-set defeat to the unseeded combine of Mahesh Bhupathi and Yuki Bhambri, 6-3, 4-6, 10-5.
In singles too, the World No. 166 had been very impressive and put up a serving blitzkrieg to thrash the second seed Kimmer Coppejans in the semi-finals.
The 28-year-old Myneni was looking to win his third singles Challenger title. He won his first one at Indore in 2014 and his second one at Ho Chi Minh last year.