New Delhi, July 04: Young Yuki Bhambri won his third
title of the season when he beat Rohan Gajjar in straight sets
to clinch the USD 15,000 ITF tennis tournament here today.
Birthday boy Yuki, seeded fourth, defeated sixth-seed
Gajjar 6-2, 7-6 (6) in one hour and 22 minutes at the DLTA
Complex here and set himself up for his fourth title of the
season with the next ITF event starting here on Monday.
Yuki had earlier beaten the same opponent in straight
sets en route his two ITF victories here in April and May.
The junior Australian Open champion, who turned 17 today,
was not his usual best but still had enough arsenal at his
disposal to knock out Gajjar.
He took full advantage of his opponent's erratic play and
broke Gajjar in the first and third game to race to a 3-0 lead
in the opening set.
However, a lapse of concentration from Yuki allowed
Gajjar to break back and make the scoreline 3-1.
But Yuki broke Gajjar once again to go 5-2 up and then
closed down the set with a clinical service game.
The second set started on quite a similar fashion as Yuki
broke Gajjar in the third game, courtesy unforced errors, to
go up 2-1.
However, Gajjar was in no mood to go down without a fight
and drew parity, breaking Yuki's serve in the sixth game of
the set.
From there on both players held their serve to take the
set into the tie-breaker where the Delhi youngster held his
nerve and came out victorious.
"There were few mistakes today, but I am happy to give
him a tough fight throughout the match. It's always a good
feeling to win a tournament and that too at home," said Yuki.
Victory fetched him USD 1,950 and 25 ATP points.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, July 04, 2009, 20:12