James Duckworth justified his top billing by moving into the final of the $50,000 Emami Kolkata Open ATP Challenger at the Bengal Tennis Association courts here on Friday. He outplayed third-seeded Belgian Ruben Bemelmans 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the first semifinal.
Sixth-seeded Radu Albot of Moldova halted Chinese Taipei’s unseeded Ti Chen’s march with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 defeat.
The Indian pair of Somdev Devvarman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan took the long route to reach the final at the expense of Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) and Ilija Bozoljac of Serbia 7-6(9), 6-7(5) (11-9) in the semifinals of the doubles event. The duo will take on Duckworth and Luke Saville in the final on Saturday.
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Duckworth, ranked 111 in the world, found the going tough in the opening set. His groundstrokes deserted him and footwork was pathetic. Bemelmans, ranked 139 in the world, broke Duckworth in the third and fifth games to pocket the set.
But the Aussie was a different player in the next set. The Belgian jumped to 2-0 lead, but Duckworth raised his game with solid groundstrokes. His court-craft also improved as the 23-year-old won four straight games to lead 4-2 and took the second set at 6-3.
The decider saw the Aussie in full flow. Despite hot and humid conditions, the top-seeded produced an almost error-free game to break his opponent thrice to take the set at 6-1 and the match after an hour and 39 minutes.
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In the second semifinal, Radu Albot looked stronger and dominated Chen.
The Moldavian tamed the unseeded Chen at 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in a match peppered with long rallies.
The results:
Semifinals: James Duckworth (Aus) bt Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1; Radu Albot (Mda) bt Ti Chen (Tpe) 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Doubles: Somdev Devvarman & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (Ind) bt Ruben Bemelmans & Ilija Bozoljac (Srb) 7-6(9), 6-7(5) (11-9); Duckworth & Luke Saville (Aus) bt Chen & Enrique Lopez-Perez (Spa) 6-2, 6-4.