Prakash, Yuki advance in Chennai Open qualifiers

A few years back eminent filmmaker Roman Polanski couldn't enter the United States, even if it was to receive the much sought after Best Director Oscar.

On Sunday, his namesake – Peter Polansky was denied entry as well, albeit in a different context altogether.

If accepting the Academy Award personally (on stage) would have been a matter of pride for Polanski, qualifying to the main draw at the Chennai Open would certainly have been an occasion to celebrate for his lesser-known namesake.  

However, it was not to be. And therein lies a commonality between the two Polanki(y)s.

 In a match that was entertaining without being spectacular India's Prakash Amritraj denied the Canadian a place in the main draw at the ATP event while securing his own in the bargain.

It took the Indian hope a little over two-and-a-half hours to score a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) win.

Prakash plays German Lars Poerschke in the final qualifying round on Monday, a win in that match guaranteeing him a place in the main draw.

In another match, Yuki Bhambri beat Illya Marchenko of Ukraine 7-6 (2), 6-3 to set third (qualifying) round encounter with Irishman Louk Sorensen.

Marchenko opened up a 4-1 lead in the opening set but Yuki, the junior Australian Open winner last year, clawed his way back and won with ease in the end.

Prakash, a wild card entry into the main draw at Chennai since 2002, had been forced to play the qualifying rounds this year. And he ensured his qualification, even if he was far from playing his best tennis.

The 26-year old had beaten compatriot Vishnu Vardhan comfortably in the previous round.

But his encounter with Polansky was anything but comfortable as he was stretched to the limit.

The match was an error-stewn affair from the outset with both players matching each other shot-for-shot, error-for-error.

After seven uneventful games, the eighth raised few opportunities for Prakash, five to be precise. For that is the number of break point opportunities he had as Polansky struggled with his serve.

However, Prakash squandered each one of them, failing to take advantage of his opponent's mistakes and letting him back in the match.

Polansky expressed his gratitude by breaking Prakash at love in the next game. The Canadian then held serve to pocket the first set 6-4.

Prakash, to his credit, got his game together in the second set, a single break of serve helping him pocket the set 6-3.

The third set was a tight affair, with games going on serve all the way through to the tie-break.

The players traded mini-breaks at the start of the Russian roullette but soon things got tighter and Prakash had to dig deep to ensure the result, sealing the match in his favour in the 20th point of the tie-break.

Vijay Amritaj, who raised a few eyebrows by skipping the draw ceremony on Saturday, giving rise to speculations that he was unhappy with Prakash not being handed a wild card, was a mere spectator on Sunday, watching in despair as his son failed to check the increasing number of errors from his racket.

Fortunately, for both, it didn't cost Prakash the match.