Kiranpal Pannu started his first round qualifying singles match against Evan Bynoe at the indoor ATP Challenger tournament in Drummondville by holding serve comfortably, and then broke the American’s serve when he finished the second game with a beautiful cross-court backhand volley. He hit two lovely cross-court forehand volleys on the way to holding to love next up before Bynoe produced one of the shots of the match when he saved the first break point in the next game with a fabulous angled forehand drop volley. He lost the next point, though, when forced to hit a forehand into the net, and Pannu was up a double break inside 15 minutes.
Pannu hit a beautiful forehand winner down the left sideline to win a good rally in the next game, and completed the hold with another beautiful cross-court forehand volley. The longest rally of the match came in the next game, ending after 21 shots when Bynoe was forced to hit a backhand wide, but he did hit a fabulous forehand winner down the line two points later. He hit a forehand into the tramlines to give away a set point, and Pannu completed the bagel with a beautiful backhand winner down the right hand side of the court. The set had taken 25 minutes.
Pannu hit a beautiful backhand volley through the middle of the court to win the third point in the second set, but Bynoe took the fourth with a lovely backhand lob. The baseline judge called it out, although I was sure it had caught the line, and umpire Joe Loeub overruled the call, saying that he couldn’t see a gap between the line and the ball. He gave the point to Bynoe because, as he said to Pannu, there was no way the New Zealander was getting the ball back in play.
Bynoe then created his first break point with a great return that forced Pannu’s response into the net, but an unreturnable serve took them to deuce. Bynoe followed a forehand into the net with a fabulous forehand passing shot down the line to go to a second deuce, from where Pannu got the advantage with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner before clinching the hold with a lovely cross-court forehand drop volley. A cross-court forehand from Bynoe in the next game gave Pannu more break points, but Bynoe saved the first with a smash before ending a fantastic short rally with a beautiful forehand winner down the left side of the court. He spoilt that good work with an overhit forehand to give away the advantage, and a double fault meant that Pannu had now won eight games in a row.
Pannu started the next game with a gorgeous forehand winner down the left sideline before Bynoe hit another fabulous backhand lob, and he won the great short rally on the next point with a cross-court forehand that flicked off the net and past Pannu’s outstretched racquet. Three more errors, though, gave Pannu the hold, the sequence of games won now stretching to nine.
Bynoe finally got on the board in the next game, but only after saving more break points. The first highlight was a fabulous backhand lob from Pannu, but he gave away his first chance to break when he hit a forehand over the baseline. Bynoe got the advantage after the deuce with a beautiful cross-court backhand drop volley, but gave it away when he hit a forehand volley too far. He then followed an unreturnable serve with a double fault, before saving another break point by forcing Pannu to hit a backhand into the ground at the end of a fantastic short rally. Unforced errors by each took them to a fifth deuce, and two more mistakes from Pannu finally allowed Bynoe to hold serve. The game had taken eight minutes and 46 seconds.
Pannu then held to love before Bynoe made it two holds in a row, and then they both held to love before Pannu settled in to serve out the match. A beautiful cross-court forehand winner from Bynoe ended a good rally after 18 shots and gave the American another break point, but he hit a backhand over the line to end a good short rally. A forehand into the net from Pannu gave Bynoe the lead after the deuce, but Bynoe squandered the advantage by overhitting a forehand at the end of another good rally. He then hit a forehand into the net to give Pannu his first match point before being forced to hit an inside-out forehand wide to end a great short rally. The match had taken an hour and 16 minutes, the final score being 6-0, 6-3.