Bermudian tennis prospect Daniel Phillips endured a bruising afternoon on the hard courts of Turkey, exiting the doubles draw of the M15 Kayseri tournament at the quarter-final stage.
Just hours after facing a tough exit in the singles bracket, the 21-year-old returned to the clay court alongside his regular partner Bogdan Seleznev, but the tandem found no solace in the doubles discipline.
Facing the clinical Bulgarian combination of Dinko Dinev and Viktor Markov, the Bermudian-Russian duo struggled to find their rhythm, ultimately sliding to a comprehensive straight-sets defeat.
Dinev and Markov looked sharp from the opening service game, establishing absolute authority at the net and targeting Seleznev early on from the baseline.
Phillips and Seleznev, who had shown immense grit to reach the last eight via a dramatic match tie-break earlier in the week, found themselves broken twice in quick succession. The Bulgarians protected their own service games with ruthless efficiency, wrapping up a completely one-sided opening set 6-2 in just over half an hour.
The second set proved to be a far more competitive, attritional affair as Phillips began to assert his presence with some heavy groundstrokes from the back of the court.
The underdogs traded blows with the Bulgarian pair, holding their nerve through the middle phases of the set to level the scoreline at 5-5.
However, just as a second-set tie-break loomed, Dinev and Markov showcased the superior composure that has defined their tournament run. Seizing on a pair of unforced errors from the Phillips-Seleznev tandem, the Bulgarians secured the crucial, late break of serve before confidently serving out the match 7-5 to punch their ticket to the semi-finals.
The defeat brings a frustrating conclusion to Phillips’ week in Kayseri, but the talented former Tulane University standout will look to take the valuable international match-play experience into his upcoming fixtures on the ITF circuit.
|
