New Delhi, Aug 28 (Inditop.com) Yuki Bhambri will be looking for his fourth International Tennis Federation (ITF) title at the DLTA complex when he plays Vishnu Vardhan in an all-Indian final at the $10,000 tournament here Saturday.
Top-seeded Vardhan won his semi-final Friday by default as last week’s winner Young-Jun Kim pulling out trailing 2-4 in the first set, complaining of heat exhaustion and a sore knee.
Later in the day, 17-year-old Yuki, seeded second, made short work of Australian opponent of Indian origin K. Balakrishnan, 6-2, 6-4 in little over an hour.
It is the third time in five months that Yuki and Vardhan will be meeting and the second time in the final. Yuki, who has won three back-to-back ITF tournaments at the venue before losing one in July, has beaten Vardhan twice and lost once. He won the last two times they met.
The junior Australian Open champion, who is playing the tournament as a tune-up for forthcoming junior US Open, dominated from the start and with his good court-craft and deep groundstrokes. The Indian chased everything sent across the net and the Australian could not sustain the rallies for long.
Yuki broke Balakrishnan in the fifth and the seventh games of the match before closing the first set with an ace.
He broke Balakrishnan in the third game of the second set, but dropped his in the next. Just when the Australian looked like forcing a decider, Yuki broke him in the ninth game and quickly held his serve in the next to take the and the match.
Yuki said after the match that he was happy the way he played.
“It was one of the better matches I played this week. In the previous matches I let go of the leads and then had to come back. In that sense, there was a lot of improvement in my game in this match. I was in control right from the beginning.”
Yuki will be leaving to train at Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy, Florida, Saturday before heading to Flushing Meadows.
Vardhan, 22, will be Yuki’s first Indian opponent this week.
“I will be meeting a tough competitor in Vishu. Whenever we met the matches had been close. It could go either way tomorrow. Vishnu is playing consistently well. Finally, I am getting to play an Indian in India.”
There was disappointment for the Indians in the doubles final, with Britons Tim Bradshaw and Max Jones upsetting third-seeded Vivek Shokeen and Rupesh Roy 4-6, 6-2, 10-4.
rounak