The top two seeds Nick Chappell of the United States and second seed Bogdan Bobrav will meet in the singles final of the ITF Davangere Open Men's World Tennis Tour event here on Saturday. The event witnessed a thrilling display of tennis with the top two seeds moving into the singles final.
In the semifinals played at the Davangere Tennis Association Courts on Saturday, top seed Nick Chappell of the USA scored a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory over India’s Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha while second seed Bogdan Bobrav quelled a late challenge from last week’s winner Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 7-6(4) to set up a title clash with his best pal on the current tour of India.
Meanwhile, in a minor upset, fourth seeds Siddhant Banthia and Vishnu Vardhan lifted the doubles title with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over the third-seeded pair of Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta and Manish Sureshkumar. Karteek and Manish had finished as the runners-up during the last event in Dharwad as well.
Chappell who had made it to the semifinals last week executed precise shots and consistently applied pressure on his opponent. Poonacha, a local favourite, put up a spirited fight, but ultimately Nick's experience and consistency prevailed. The first set was closely contested until the sixth game where the American broke Poonacha’s serve to go 4-2 up and built it to a 6-3 win.
Chappell's powerful serves and relentless forehand winners gave him the edge as he continued to dominate and achieved a break in the very first game of the second set and once again in the seventh game to cruise into the final.
The second semifinal proved to be an even more interesting affair with Bobrov racing to a 5-1 lead before Ramkumar woke up and began crawling back into the set. After an intense battle, Ramkumar narrowed down the lead to 4-5 but Bobrov served out for the set.
The second set saw Ramkumar fight back with a renewed vigour. After the opponents had traded a break each in the first four games post, both the rivals held their respective serve, albeit all the games being stretched to the hilt with finally the set being decided via tie-breaker.
Results
(Seeds in parenthesis, Indians unless mentioned):
Singles (semifinals): 1-Nick Chappell (USA) bt 8-Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha 6-3, 6-2; 2-Bogdan Bobrov bt Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Doubles (finals): 4-Siddhant Banthia/Vishnu Vardhan bt 3-Sai Karteek Reddy Ganta/Manish Sureshkumar 6-2, 7-5.