(BY MATT HETHERINGTON )
Kanak Jha was the player to upset the order today with a career win over Romania’s Adrian Crisan. Jha had qualified through to the main draw, winning all his preliminary matches (read more). His opponent a quarterfinalist in both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, formerly top 10 in the World. Crisan currently ranked 67 in the world while USA’s Kanak is ranked at 246. Was this the biggest upset of the tournament so far?
Kanak started out the player in control, taking the first game and putting his mark on the match. He would continue his momentum into the second, soaring ahead through the first exchange of serves to hold the early lead. The first two games would fall 11-8, 11-8 both for the American player. Crisan had won 4-0 on their last meeting at the 2014 Men’s World Cup but now it was the young gun who soared ahead.
The experience of Crisan would be crucial in his comeback as he pushed his way back into the game, winning the next 3 games in a row to take a 3-2 lead. Had the young American lost his way in the match? Despite the games being close he wasn’t able to extend his lead, but that was about to change.
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