Double delight for Turkey’s Kirkin

ISLAMABAD: It was double delight for Turkish junior champion Ergi Kirkin in the Benazir Bhutto Futures International III tennis tournament here on Thursday.

Kirkin first moved into the semi-finals of the men’s singles event with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Anton Chekhov (France) and then paired with Nikolay Vyleghanin of Russia to account for Pakistan’s top pair of Aqeel Khan and Shahzad Khan 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.It was performance in the singles that caught many eyes especially the way he handled Russian in the quarter-finals.

Despite being junior and new to the circuit, he kept pressure on the Russian with consistent baseline game to force him make errors. After winning the first set easily, Kirkin continued with the same vein in the second and went on to beat struggling Russian for a place in the semi-final.

“Following six months of layoff because of injury, I have just started playing competitive tennis again. I trained hard for Pakistan circuit and after putting in over one month of physical training, I am now enjoying my tennis,” he said.

Kirkin, who is ranked among the top six Turkish professionals, was seen playing with ease in the singles where he mostly relied on his stamina and fitness making his opponent struggle to match his fast game. “I knew that Russians are tough customers but I made sure that I would play normal game and would wait for my opponent to commit mistakes,” he said.Later, pairing with teenage Russian Nikolay Vyleghanin he sent Pakistan pair of Aqeel and Shahzad packing 6-4, 6-4.

Results: Men’s singles quarter-finals: Ergi Kirkin (Tur) bt Anton Chekhov (Rus) 6-4, 6-2; Ivan Nedelko (Rus) bt Kunal Anand (Ind) 6-3, 7-5; Peter Goldsteiner (Aut) bt Shalva Dzhanashiya (Rus) 6-3, 6-3; Enrique Lopez-Perez (Esp) bt Julian Onken (Ger) 6-2, 6-4.

Men’s doubles first round: Ergi Kirkin(Tur)/Nikolay Vyleghanin (Rus) bt Aqeel Khan (Pak)/Shahzad Khan(Pak) 6-4, 6-4; Gleb Alekseenko(Ukr)/Ivan Pono-marenko (Rus) bt Shalva Dzhanashiya (Rus)/Ivan Nedelko (Rus) 4-2 retired; Enrique Lopez-Perez (Esp)/Kristian Lozan (Rus) bt Parameer Singh Bajwa(Ind)/Ajay Pruthvi Nemakal(Ind) 6-2, 6-1; Peter Goldsteiner (Aut)/Julain Onken (Ger) bt Anurag Nenwani (Ind)/Jayesh Pungliya (Ind) 6-0, 6-3.Men’s doubles quarter-final: Ergi Kirkin(Tur)/Nikolay Vylegzhanin (Rus) bt Vadim Alekseenko (Ukr)/Anton Chekhov (Rus) 7-5, 2-6 (10-3).