Kiranpal Pannu served first when he played Japanese left-hander Leo Vithoontien in this morning’s second round qualifying match at the ATP Challenger tournament in Drummondville, and the only point he lost was to a beautiful inside-out forehand return of serve. Vithoontien, on the other hand, won only one point when he served next. That was with a beautiful backhand winner down the line, but he finished the game with a forehand into the net and an inside-out forehand volley that landed over the baseline.
He started Pannu’s second game with a beautiful forehand passing winner down the line, and the New Zealander hit two backhands into the net to go to 0-40. He saved the first two break points, but a beautiful cross-court backhand winner from Vithoontien got the break straight back. Vithoontien started and finished the next game with aces, and won the second point with a beautiful forehand drop shot in what, even though it wasn’t a hold to love, was his best service game of the match. He hit a beautiful inside-out forehand return off Pannu in the next game, but the New Zealander held serve after two deuces when he finished with an ace and an unreturnable serve.
There were three good rallies in the next game, lasting 11, 16 and 13 shots respectively, with Vithoontien and Pannu losing the first two with backhand unforced errors before Vithoontien took the third with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner to end the game. Pannu had another comfortable hold before his beautiful cross-court forehand winner got him another break of serve after Vithoontien was taken to his only deuce of the match. That left Pannu serving for the set and, although he lost two points to forced errors, he closed it out after 37 minutes with an ace and two unreturnable serves.
Vithoontien held to love to start the second set, but Pannu again had to get through two deuces before holding serve, the highlight there being his beautiful stretch to get to a lovely backhand volley. He started Vithoontien’s next game with a fabulous cross-court forehand winner to end a great rally, and completed a break of serve with a beautiful forehand return. There were two great rallies when Pannu served next, the New Zealander losing the first with a backhand over the baseline before winning the second with a fabulous forehand half-lob down the line. He dumped a forehand into the net to give away the first deuce, and had to save a break point when Vithoontien got the advantage with a beautiful backhand lobbed volley, but unreturnable serves, either side of a nice inside-out forehand winner, completed the game after six and a half minutes.
Vithoontien hit a beautiful inside-out forehand winner on the way to holding serve next up, and Pannu held comfortably as well to maintain his advantage. Pannu won the great rally on Vithoontien’s opening point with a beautiful backhand winner down the line, but the shot of the match was the incredible forehand winner he hit down the line into the corner after stretching to reach a ball outside the court.
Next came a cross-court backhand volley after Vithoontien’s shot had hit the net cord from close range and popped straight up for Pannu to hit, and Vithoontien completed what had become a miserable game for him with a double fault. The second of two aces from Pannu gave him match points, and he converted the first after Vithoontien’s incoming shot hit the net and dribbled over. Pannu was able to reach the ball and pop it back over the net, with Vithoontien only able to scramble the ball away into the tramlines. The match had taken an hour and 17 minutes, the final score being 6-3, 6-2.