Somdev Devvarman didn’t play as well as he can, but he did what he knows best. Devvarman dug deep and outfought Yuki Bhambri 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 to defend the $100,000 ATP Challenger Delhi Open title on Sunday.
Ahead of the final, Bhambri had reckoned it would come down to better handling of pressure.
The wildcard seemed prescient in his analysis as it was his inability to respond mentally that proved to be his undoing.
Once Devvarman levelled the match, Bhambri let the dropping of a set “get to him.”
The fifth seed grew in confidence and hit the ball deeper to force the issue.
Just like he had done in the quarterfinal against Sanam Singh, Devvarman succeeded in completely neutralising Bhambri’s threat after the loss of a set. As the match slipped away, the latter made a series of errors.
The results: Final: Somdev Devvarman (Ind) bt Yuki Bhambri (Ind) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Doubles: Alexander Kudryavtsev (Rus) and Egor Gerasimov (Blr) bt Riccardo Ghedin (Ita) and Toshihide Matsui (Jpn) 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-6. — Priyansh
