Ajeet Rai and Hiroki Moriya served first for their respective teams when Rai and Calum Puttergill played Moriya and the left-handed Omar Jasika in the first round of doubles at the ATP Challenger tournament in Sydney. Both had comfortable holds, Moriya finishing his game with a beautiful forehand lob, and Puttergill lost two points before gifting Jasika three unforced errors as the latter held to love. Rai hit a fabulous forehand winner down the tramlines when he served next, with Moriya winning the next point when he hammered a fabulous forehand return back down the same line. Moriya and Puttergill held again, and this time the Australian managed to do so to love.
Rai started Jasika’s next game with a fabulous backhand lob, and a smash from Puttergill to end a great rally brought up the first break points of the game. There was an even better rally on the next point, which Puttergill lost when his attempted lob went too far, but he was able to smash away the winning volley on the deciding point. The only real moment of concern as Rai served out the set came when Jasika hit a beautiful forehand return down the tramlines, and Moriya’s attempted return of the final serve went wide. The set had taken 28 minutes.
Moriya and Rai started the second set before Jasika ended a great rally on his first point by pushing an inside-out backhand into the net. Puttergill then hit a beautiful forehand return right down the sideline, which was called out by the line judge before umpire Rosario Corvaia overruled it. An overhit backhand volley from Moriya gave away a deuce, and he did the same with a forehand volley to lose the deciding point. Puttergill held easily enough, but Moriya lost his serve as well when Rai finished the game with a beautiful backhand volley, and comfortable holds to Rai and Jasika meant that Puttergill would be serving for the match. It didn’t quite work out that way, as a forehand volley from Jasika to end a great 14 shot rally secured break points for his team.
He and Moriya overhit their next forehand returns, but Jasika hit a beautiful forehand winner down the right tramline to take the deciding point. Rai and Puttergill were still a break ahead, so that put the pressure on Moriya to hold serve in turn. He was forced to hit a forehand into the net for 40-30, but his backhand into the net on the following point was all his own doing. Puttergill got the deciding point back in play, but a poor overhead volley from Moriya flew well over the baseline to end the match after an hour and three minutes. The final score was 6-3, 6-3.