There were a couple of hiccups in the second set when Kiranpal Pannu played Ben Jones in Saint-Augustin this morning, but he has come safely through a tie-break to win the match in straight sets. Jones had a break point in the third game, and another in the fifth, but it was Pannu who broke first when Jones was able to win only one point in the next game. The remaining games saw comfortable holds, Pannu serving out the set after 42 minutes.
Jones served two aces in the first game of the second set, but also two double faults, and he eventually lost the game. Pannu broke again to lead 5-2, which left him serving for the match. Instead, he got broken to love, and Jones was able to work his way through three deuces before holding in the next game. Pannu had a second chance to serve out, but Jones broke again, and then held serve to take the lead for the first time. Pannu had a simpler service game this time round, and held on to take them to a tie-break. He lost his third point, so was down a mini-break when they changed ends, but got it back when Jones double-faulted. They were all square when they changed ends again, the first match point having been and gone, but Jones lost his next serve to give Pannu a second match point.
Pannu lost that serve, but aced Jones on the next to give himself a third match point, and this time he was able to convert by breaking Jones’s serve. The final score was 6-3, 7-6 (7), and the match took exactly two hours. In the second round Pannu will play William Grant from the United States.