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Divij stops Yuki’s winning run

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Divij Sharan stopped the ‘17-match winning streak at home’ of Yuki Bhambri with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory in the quarterfinals of the Central Bank $15,000 ITF men"s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

It was an impressive performance by the fifth-seeded left-hander; Divij returned strong throughout the match and volleyed with tremendous assurance to beat the 17-year-old Yuki, the champion of the last three events at home.

Yuki struggled with his game today, though he did relatively better in the second and third sets. The spring was missing in his step, and he just could not goad himself to a higher level. He failed to hold serve in the first set in four service games and won the only game by breaking Divij in the sixth game, after slipping to 0-5.

Decisive break

Into the second set, Divij warded off breakpoints to hold serve in the first game, but Yuki was able to make a decisive break in the ninth game, with a backhand passing shot down the line on breakpoint. Yuki converted the fourth setpoint, after saving a breakpoint in the tenth game.

It was Divij who was playing better and he was calm to regain the stranglehold over the proceedings with a break in the second game, when Yuki double-faulted on breakpoint.

Once Divij saved three breakpoints in the fifth game for a 4-1 lead, the writing was very much on the wall. Yuki did save two breakpoints in the sixth game, but dropped the match on a double-fault in the eighth game after Divij had set up the matchpoint with a backhand passing shot.

“I tried too much last time. I was not thinking much this time. I played my game”, said Divij who had lost the quarterfinals last week to Yuki in straight sets.

“He cannot go on for ever. This defeat will be good for him. Yuki will work harder to get better”, said coach Aditya Sachdeva, who braved a severe back-pain to watch the second part of the match.

Vishnu survives

Divij will be challenged by the second-seeded Vishnu Vardhan who saved two match-points on his serve in the tenth game with big serves to beat the former national champion Purav Raja in three sets.

Rohan Gajjar was the other Indian to make the semifinals, as he outplayed the third-seeded Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea with a brilliant serve and volley game, rarely seen at this level.

Gajjar gave credit to his coach Mustafa Ghouse and trainer Savio D"Souza for helping him revive his singles game.

In the semifinals, Gajjar will meet the top-seeded Kento Takeuchi of Japan whom he had beaten in the tournament last week on way to the final.

The results (Indians unless mentioned):

Singles (quarterfinals): Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-3, 6-3; Rohan Gajjar bt Hyun-Woo Nam (Kor) 6-0, 6-3; Divij Sharan bt Yuki Bhambri 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Vishnu Vardhan bt Purav Raja 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles (semifinals): Vivek Shokeen & Ashutosh Singh bt Rohan Gide & Aditya Madkekar 6-3, 6-4; Divij Sharan & Vishnu Vardhan bt Maniel Bains (GBR) & Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) 7-5, 6-1.

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