New Delhi, April 23 (Inditop) Yuki Bhambri came up with his best performance in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) men’s event Thursday, entering the $15,000 BHEL Futures semi-finals, here at the DLTA complex.
The 16-year-old Indian wilcard, who never crossed the quarter-finals stage, overcame an indifferent start to get the measure of 24-year-old Rohan Gajjar, 6-4, 6-4, in their first meeting.
Both players have a big serve and a potent forehand to back up. So, it all boiled down to the errors and Yuki committed fewer mistakes than his opponent.
The junior Australian Open champion was broken early in the first set, but he broke back immediatley. He then broke Gajjar again in the ninth game before finally serving out the set.
In the second set, the Delhi youngster effected the decisive break in in the seventh game of the second set with a whipping forehand winner followed by brilliant pass.
A clever drop in the tenth game brought up two match points for Yuki and he sealed the set and match as Gajjar netted a return.
Yuki, however, wasn’t satisfied with his performance.
“I committed a few errors. I got broken in the second game. It was a little windy out there and it was difficult to control the light-weight balls, but then a win is a win,” said Yuki, who has not dropped a set so far.
“I guess both Rohan and I enjoyed playing against each other. We play similiar kind of tennis, so we both were trying to attack the other’s backhand. I have been trying to bring variety in my shots besides working to perfect my volleys. Today, thankfully , I played them well.”
Yuki next plays Japanese Masato Hatanaka who upset seventh-seeded Sean Thornley of England, 7-6(6), 6-1.
In another quarter-final match, fifth-seeded Vishnu Vardhan upset third-seeded Goran Tosic of Montenegro with a 6-2, 7-5 win and next plays top-seeded Raven Klaasen of South Africa who beat American Adam El Mithdawy, 6-4, 7-6(4).
rounak