It was a great start for Kiranpal Pannu in Calgary this morning as, after holding serve comfortably to start the match, he hit a nice backhand winner down the line off David Jorda Sanchis before the 1.98m tall Spaniard hit shots into the net either side of a double fault. He did hit a beautiful cross-court backhand return off Pannu in the next game, but the New Zealander finished with a fabulous cross-court forehand volley to consolidate the break.
Jorda Sanchis had had some words with umpire Regil Kharissov after the first game, and had a discussion with (presumably) the tournament referee during the first full change of ends, but I had no idea what it was for. He was now facing another break in the next game when he double faulted for the third time, but Pannu ended a good short rally by swinging a forehand into the tramlines, and consecutive aces down the middle won the game.
Pannu held comfortably next up before hitting a fabulous backhand passing shot to create another break point when Jorda Sanchis served again. Pannu was forced to hit his next return into the tramlines, but three errors in a row from Jorda Sanchis after the second deuce lost him that game as well. All Pannu had to do to win the set was hold his serve, and he did so in style by starting and finishing with aces. The set had taken 30 minutes.
Jorda Sanchis got into more trouble when he lost the first three points of the second set, Pannu winning a good short rally on the last of those with a beautiful inside-out overhead volley. I thought he had completed the break when an inside-out forehand from Jorda Sanchis was called out by the line judge when it landed in the tramlines, only to be overruled by umpire Kharissov. To be fair, it didn’t land that far from him, but Pannu hotly disputed the call, and the replays suggested that it was the line judge who was correct.
Jorda Sanchis still had one break point to save, and he did that with an ace, but two more unforced errors from him cost him another break of serve. The second of those came at the end of what was probably the best rally of the match, when he sent the 15th shot flying over the baseline. Pannu then held to consolidate this break as well, finishing with a beautiful angled forehand drop shot, but Jorda Sanchis got himself into credit when he held to love next up.
There was another great rally in Pannu’s next game, the New Zealander winning this one with a beautiful backhand drop volley before forcing Jorda Sanchis into two forehand return errors. 0-40 seemed to be becoming a standard score for the Spaniard, and we saw it again in the next game. He saved the first break point with a beautiful angled forehand volley to end another great rally, but lost this game with a repeat of the overhit forehand that had lost him the first.
Pannu then held to love, with a fabulous forehand drop shot and a beautiful forehand drop volley winning the middle two points, and he hit a beautiful backhand return down the right sideline as Jorda Sanchis held again. That left Pannu serving for the match, but his third forced error of the game gave Jorda Sanchis a chance of survival. That was strengthened slightly when he held serve after two deuces in the next game, having had to save a match point after the first of them, but Pannu was still a break to the good.
Pannu hit a beautiful serve down the T to bring up what he thought was another match point, only to have called out by the centre line judge, but the replays clearly showed that the decision was wrong. He lost that point with a forehand over the baseline, but saved the break point when Jorda Sanchis hit a forehand into the tramlines, and two more unforced errors from the other side of the net gifted Pannu the win after an hour and 16 minutes. The final score was 6-1, 6-4.