Illness forces Vesely out of Chennai Open

On the prowl: Galarneau made it to the second round with ease.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Jiri Vesely had a brief bout of nausea, took a pill, and was squeezed for effort by opponent Ergi Kirkin before conceding the match 7-6(7), 6-7(3) in the first round of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT tennis stadium here on Wednesday.

Vesely broke Kirkin’s serve in the very first game but the Turkiye player hit back to make it 4-4. Vesely served an ace to save a set point at 4-5, stretching it to a tie-break.

Kirkin rallied from 2-5 to draw level 5-5 and went on to lead 7-6, but Vesely came up with a couple of forehand crosscourt winners and a backhand crosscourt winner to clinch the opening set.

The second, too, went to a tie-break where Kirkin made it 2-2 after losing the first two games. Two unforced errors from the Czech and a forehand crosscourt volley in between helped Kirkin go ahead 5-2.

Though Vesely won the next point, Kirkin went on to clinch the tie-break 7-3 as Vesely made a couple of unforced errors. As they returned for a break, Vesely decided to retire.

The results (singles):

Second round: Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Jay Clarke (GBr) 7-5, 7-6(2).

Rio Noguchi (Jpn) bt Jacopo Berrettini (Ita) 7-5, 6-3.

First round: Alexis Galarneau (Can) bt Egor Agafonov 6-4, 6-1.

Ergi Kirkin (Tur) bt Jiri Vesely (Cze) 6-7(7), 7-6(3) (retd.).

Oleksandr Ovcharenko (Ukr) bt Zsombor Piros (Hun) 7-6(4), 6-4.