Palembang (Indonesia), Aug 23 (IANS) The Indian men's doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan registered a hard fought victory to enter the tennis final at the 18th Asian Games here on Thursday.
In other matches on the day, Ankita Raina had to settle for bronze after losing in the women's singles semi-final. Prajnesh Gunneswaran also ensured a medal from the men's singles category by entering the semi-finals.
Bopanna and Sharan were made to work hard for an hour and 12 minutes by the Japanese duo of Kaito Uesugi and Sho Shimabukuro before grinding out a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 win.
This is the fifth successive Asian Games, when an Indian pair has made the final of the men's doubles. Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won the gold in 2002 and 2006, while Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh won gold in 2010. At Incheon Saketh Myneni and Sanam Singh lost in the 2014 final.
For Divij Sharan, the entry into the final is one step better than his bronze medal in 2014, when he paired with Yuki Bhambri. In 2014, India had one gold in mixed doubles (Saketh Myneni and Sania Mirza) besides one silver and three bronze.
The Japanese lacked the power and big serve of the Indians, but made up with accurate placements and some good work at the net.
Playing against more experienced and higher ranked opponents, Kaito and Sho did well to win the first set.
The second set went with the serve till the Indians earned their first service break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead.
Serving for the set, Divij conceded a 0-40 deficit before fighting back to 40-40 and eventually holding serve to draw level.
The Indians then won the tie-breaker to enter the tennis final.
In the women's singles semi-finals, India's Ankita Raina will have to be content with a bronze medal after a straight sets loss to top seed Zhang Shuai of China.
Despite not being at full fitness, Ankita gave a spirited fight to a much higher rated opponent who is placed more than 150 places above her in the WTA rankings.
Despite losing the first set, Ankita fought back and almost won the second set before going down 4-6, 6-7 in a tough, long drawn battle that lasted two hours and 11 minutes.
The first set was hard fought with Ankita leading 4-3 at one stage before the Chinese player won three consecutive games to win the set.
Zhang broke Ankita's serve in the third game of the second set and held serve to take a 3-1 lead.
But the Indian hit back with a service break of her own to claw back to level terms at 3-3. She then held serve to take a 4-3 lead.
With the second set tied at 6-6 the issue went into the tie-breaker. Ankita was trailing in the tie-breaker but made a superb comeback to equalise at 6-6.
But Ankita then hit a return too long before another return into the net to hand the match to Zheng.
Later in the day, Prajnesh edged out Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea in a long, bitterly fought three-set battle which also saw a lengthy rain interruption.
The two players fought a see-saw battle for more than four hours before the Indian clinched a 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 verdict.
In the mixed doubles quarter-finals, Bopanna and Ankita lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-10 to Indonesia's Christopher Rungkat and Aldila Sutjiadi.
The Indonesians broke Ankita's serve in the third game of the opening set to take the early advantage. The local pair held off some desperate attempts by the Indians to maintain the lead and take the first set.
The Indians completely dominated the second set, winning the first five games which included two service breaks. The hosts finally won their first game of the second set when Ankita hit a return into the net. Ankita however, held serve to give India the second set.
In the super tie-break, the Indonesians wrested the advantage straight away by taking a 4-0 lead.
The Indians fought back to close the gap to 5-7 before Bopanna hit a return long to give Rungkat and Aldila a three-point lead. Aldila then hit a well placed down the line return to restore the hosts' four-point cushion.
Bopanna and Ankita could not recover from there as the hosts took a well deserved victory.
