Sunil Kumar goes down fighting

Junior India tennis star Sunil Kumar Sipaeya went down fighting in the third round of the boys' singles at the US Open on Wednesday.

The Indian lost to the top seed Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-5, 4-6, 2-6 in a hard fought match, where has gave every indication of pulling-off a shock win against the top seed before falling a bit short.

In the first set, Sunil was in some early trouble in the first three service games, facing break points in all. But he survived the mild crisis. At 5-5, he went after Muller's serve, winning three points in a row to gain a break point oppurtunity which he converted. He comfortably served off the next game to win the first set at 7-5.

In the second set, Sunil again had a break point in the first game, but the top seed saved it. Sunil showed his temparament by holding his serves till the ninth game. In the 10th game, Muller broke the Indian to take the set at 6-4.

In the third set, Muller continued the pressure on the Indian and forced three break points in the fourth game. But the India saved them all after five deuces. That was the last bit of resistence he offered, as the top seed established his superiority by winning the next four games to win the match.

In the girls' doubles, Sania Mirza partnering Dominique Van Boekel of The Netherlands, lost to the sixth seeded pair of Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and Renata Voracova of The Czech Republic 1-6, 1-6 in their second round match.

Sania and Boekel found the going tough against the sixth seeds as they did not win a single game after 1-1 in the either sets. The Indo-Dutch pair could hold their serve only once in the match and broke the sixth seeds in the first game of the second set.

Earlier on Tuseday, Sania had picked up her first Grand Slam doubles win defeating the American pair of Theresa Logar and Tory Zawacky 5-7, 7-6(7-3), 6-4 in the first round.

Earlier Reports:
Sunil Kumar in pre-quarter-finals
Sunil Kumar in second round