Tennis: “He has the heaviest serve I have faced”: ATP star heaps praise on Dhakshineswar Suresh
Lajal compares Suresh’s service to ATP’s top players
While the ATP’s number two-ranked player, Carlos Alcaraz, is busy at work at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 ahead of the final Grand Slam event of the year, he has been included in a recent discussion of Mark Lajal’s, who compared him to an Indian rising star.
That player is Dhakshineswar Suresh, who is steadily gaining a reputation as one to watch in upcoming tournaments, thanks to his impressive performances on the Challenger circuit, most recently, the Lexington Challenger tournament in the US.
Suresh earned his spot in the competition by coming through the qualifiers with flying colours before pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the first round by eliminating number five seed Billy Harris of Great Britain in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.
In the second round, the 25-year-old was drawn against Lajal, who was one of the favourites to win the competition according to the best online betting sites, and took down the world number 147 in three sets, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Following the match, Lajal made a massive claim, suggesting that Suresh’s serve was the heaviest he had faced, which raised plenty of eyebrows given that the Estonian star has taken on the likes of Alcaraz, Reilly Opelka and Arthur Fils in past tournaments. Speaking after the victory, Suresh said:
"My strengths are serving aces and playing the forehand. I am a tall player and I used it (serve) to my advantage. While playing at the elite level, you need to narrow down on your mistakes which I couldn't as I committed several unforced errors."
Unfortunately, the up-and-coming Indian tennis player was eliminated in the quarter-final of the tournament by wildcard Eliot Spizzirri of the US, who lost to eventual runner-up Bernard Tomic in the last four.
Cincinnati Open heating up heading to round of 32
While there is no shortage of action on the Challenger circuit, the majority of attention is currently on the Cincinnati Open, where the competition is reaching a boiling point as we enter the business end of the tournament. All matches are available via our tennis livescores.
Among the most headline-grabbing encounters on the cards is the clash between Frances Tiafoe and Ugo Humbert. The American was the runner-up in this competition last year, and you can check out our Frances Tiafoe vs Ugo Humbert prediction for our experts’ thoughts on how this match will pan out.
Over in the WTA Cincinnati Open section, Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek are both scheduled to play their round of 32 matches early this week, while the pick of the games in the round will see Aryna Sabalenka face off against Emma Raducanu later this evening.
