Seventh seed Nishesh Basaraveddy beat Shang Juncheng 3-4 (4-7) 4-2 4-2 4-1 in 1 hour and 38 minutes to claim the first ATP Tour of his career in he opening match of the second day at the Next Gen ATP Finals and his first top 50 opponent.
Basaraveddy saved a break point in the third game of the first set, but Shang converted his second break point to take a 2-1 lead. Basaraveddy broke straight back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3 forcing the first set to a tie-break.
Shang started the tie-break with an early mini-break to open up a 3-0 lead. Basaraveddy pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Shang claimed the next three points to win the tie-break 7-4. Basaraveddy fired five aces to Shang’s three, but he made 15 unforced errors against Shang’s six.
Basaraveddy saved two break points in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2 before breaking serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. The US player served it out in the next game to win the second set 4-2 drawing level the match to one set apiece. Basaraveddy made seven unforced errors.
Basaraveddy broke Shang’s serve in the first game of the third set. Both players went on serve with no breaks of serve in the next games of the set. Basaraveddy saved two break points in the final game. He hit five aces and won 81% of his first serve points.
The 19-year-old US player started the fourth set with an immediate break in the first game to open up a 2-0 lead. Shang Juncheng fended off three break points in the third game. Both players held on serve until the fifth game when Basaraveddy sealed the win with a break on his fourth match point.
Shang won just 30% of his first serve points in the fourth set and committed a double fault allowing Basaraveddy to complete the come-back.
Basaraveddy is 1-1 in the Red Group keeping his hopes of qualifying for the semifinal alive when he takes on Luca Van Assche in the third match on Friday.
“I am just super excited, playing In this stadium is a dream come true. In such a big event like this, in front of all these fans I am just enjoying every moment of it”, said Basaraveddy.
