The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rohan to meet Vishnu in final

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Rohan to meet Vishnu in final

Special Correspondent

It was a gritty performance by Gajjar as he stayed calm throughout
Vishnu Vardhan outwits Divij Sharan in three sets

NEW DELHI: Rohan Gajjar fought his way past the top-seeded Kento Takeuchi of Japan 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) in the semifinals of the Central Bank $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

It was a gritty performance by Gajjar as he stayed calm throughout, despite his game blowing hot and cold. He could have won a lot easier and a lot earlier as he was easily the better player, but the tall Gajjar, with a razor sharp game, was unable to drive home the advantage when the flow was in his favour. It was good in a way, as it revealed his reserves of mental energy, as Gajjar stayed positive and stuck to his game rather than turn defensive, and showed his class by unleashing a forehand down the line winner after a tough rally on the second matchpoint.

Gajjar started brilliantly as he hardly put a foot wrong, but he let Takeuchi save a clutch of breakpoints in the second and fourth games.

After an exchange of breaks in the sixth and seventh games, Gajjar converted his third setpoint in the tenth game by breaking Takeuchi’s serve.

In the second set, Gajjar was broken decisively in the ninth game. However, he bounced back and lead 4-1 in the third set after breaking the opponent in fourth game. A loose service game saw the tall Mumbaikar surrender the initiative by getting broken in the seventh game, with a doublefault on breakpoint.

Thereafter, Gajjar served well to force the tie-break, and had the advantage of a 4-2 lead when the players changed sides. Two errors from Gajjar saw the Japanese equalise, but Gajjar fired an ace to go up 5-4 and hit a backhand winner to set up two matchpoints.

Takeuchi saved the first matchpoint with a forehand winner, but Gajjar put an end to the drama in fading light by unleashing a strong forehand.

It was the second final for Gajjar following the one last week against Yuki Bhambri. He will be challenged by the second-seeded Vishnu Vardhan who capitalised on a rain interruption to outwit Divij Sharan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Vishnu on song

It was Divij who captured the first set against the run of play, by winning a decisive break in the ninth game. It was 30-0 for Vishnu in the first game of the second set when rain stopped play for two hours and seven minutes. When it resumed in the afternoon, Vishnu was on song as he broke Divij in the second game to take the second set.

In the decider, Divij was unable to do anything with his serve and the only game he won was by breaking Vishnu in the fourth game.

Former Davis Cupper Jaidip Mukherjea, in charge of the Commonwealth Games training programme, was on hand to witness the matches, and felt happy with the quality of tennis that his trainees displayed.

There was some consolation for Divij as he combined very well with Vishnu Vardhan to capture the doubles title later in the evening.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Rohan Gajjar bt Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5); Vishnu Vardhan bt Divij Sharan 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan bt Vivek Shokeen and Ashutosh Singh 6-3, 6-4.

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