It proved to be a second successive Saturday of extreme delight for Vishnu Vardhan. The second seed won the singles title in the $10,000 Toyota Bangalore Open ITF tournament which concluded here. In the final, Vishnu defeated top-seeded Ti-Chen of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Last weekend, Vishnu had won the ITF at Mysore and like then, he raised his game for the occasion in a summit clash that stretched past sunset, thanks to a 100-minute rain-stoppage. Vishnu's serves were largely spot-on, and with 16 aces, he often notched the decisive points against an errant Ti.
The opening set initially went with serve, until wet weather cried halt to the proceedings. On resumption, Vishnu broke Ti in the fourth and eighth games as the latter kept hitting wide. Vishnu proved equally adept at the net and soon, he nailed the first set and was seemingly riding the tide.
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Ti though had other ideas and lived up to his top billing in the second set. He sliced his shots, imparted spin, slowed the pace and dominated the rallies with the deft drop shot, often being the sucker punch. The top-seed broke Vishnu in the third game and though a few points went through the deuce-advantage conundrum, Ti stayed firm to draw level and drag the contest into decider.
After the build-up, the third set proved to be a let-down in terms of a contest, as Vishnu breezed ahead at a stunning pace under lights.
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Singles: Vishnu Vardhan bt Ti-Chen (Tpe) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Doubles: Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & V.M. Ranjeet bt Arun Prakash Rajagopalan & N. Sriram Balaji 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.