Kento Takeuchi of Japan warded off a stiff challenge from former National champion Ashutosh Singh 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals of the $10,000 ITF men’s F9 tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.
Second-seeded Young-Jun Kim of Korea outplayed reigning National champion V.M. Ranjeet 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Good start
A quality player with an all-round game but a laidback approach, Ashutosh raised hopes of making the breakthrough, when he raced away with the first set, serving, volleying and stroking with confidence.
He looked to be on cruise mode, when he broke the Japanese in the first game of the second set and saved two breakpoints to hold serve in the second.
Takeuchi clawed his way back by saving a breakpoint to hold serve in the third game. The Japanese showed his class by hammering a backhand return winner on breakpoint in the fourth game to be on par at 2-2.
Not to be discouraged, Ashutosh broke back for 3-2, but failed to hold serve in the next game, as he netted a half volley on breakpoint after having set it up for the opponent by walking into a passing shot.
Ashutosh did get another chance, as at 4-4 the Japanese faced a breakpoint following a crisp volley by the Indian lad. However, Ashutosh buried a hesitant backhand into the net and with it his chances of causing a coup against the sixth seed. He netted a backhand on set point, to rejuvenate the Japanese.
A flawless game
In the final set, the Japanese played a flawless game to run up a 5-2 lead, with a break in the second game. Unlike in the second set, when the Japanese had faced breakpoints in every game, he did not face a single breakpoint in the decider.
Ashutosh saved a matchpoint in the eighth game on his serve, and saved two more in the next with his passing shots. He put a lob wide on the fourth matchpoint to put the Japanese in his first singles final of the season.
In the other semifinal, the Korean Young-Jun Kim who had won a Challenger in his prime and was ranked as high as 302 in 2004, affixed his stamp of authority against Ranjeet.
The latter put up a good fight despite his limited arsenal, but the Korean moved close to his best to scotch all hopes of the Indian lad. It was the third time Ranjeet was losing to Young-Jun, the best player on view, in three weeks, and he had managed to win 12 games in all.
On a roll
Young-Jun will start favourite on Sunday, as he is on a hot streak, having won 17 of his last 18 matches. The only loss was, when he retired in the semifinals after six games last week against Vishnu Vardhan owing to knee pain.
The Korean has won two of the last three tournaments including one back home, when he beat Takeuchi in the first round for the loss of five games. Young-Jun had lost only 19 more games in winning that tournament.
In the doubles final, second-seeded Chris Eaton of Britain and Rohan Gajjar pipped top-seeded Ashutosh Singh and Vishnu Vardhan in two tie-breaks.
The results:
Singles (semifinals): Kento Takeuchi (Jpn) bt Ashutosh Singh 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Young-Jun Kim (Kor) bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-2, 6-2.
Doubles (final): Chris Eaton (GBR) & Rohan Gajjar bt Ashutosh Singh &Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(6), 7-6(3).
