11th January
Picture Credits – IFS Raman Kalika
The indian pair of Dev Javia and Chirag Duhan were again seen toying with their opponents mercilessly. After losing the first set, they bounced back strongly to square off the match in the second set. The match tied at 1-1 after second set looked delicately poised. However, like the second set, the third set too became a one sided anffair, leaving Korean pair clueless about any game plan to counterattack. They meekly surrendered the match after being one set up 6-4, 1-6, 2-10.
The court erupted with joy as the winning Indian pair was handed over the winner’s trophy.
Another upset by an seeded player, marked the outcome of the first semi-final. 26 year old Alistair Gray(GBR) wrapped up the first Alistair Gray played attacking tennis right from the beginningsemi-final against sixth seed Eric Vanshelboim(UKR) in straight sets 6-3,6-4 in about 80 minutes. As per ATP ranking, Vanshelboim stands 138 ATP points above Gray. But as the tournament proved that rankings are just statistics and have nothing to do with outcome of any match, Gray went on to reinforce it by playing attacking tennis right from the start, never allowing Vanshelboim to settle down. He kept rushing to nets time again, clinching the point more often than not to finish the match with a vicious back hand slice well under 90 minutes.
In another semi finals, 31 years old Siddharth Rawat was pitted against 12 years younger Maxim Zukhov (RUS). Rawat found Maxim Zukhov sailed through to final after beating Sidharth Rawat in the Russian too hot to handle. Rawat was first one up to break the serve of Zukhov. However Zukhov was quick to take the initiativeand win the one sided match 6-4,6-1.
The finals of ITF M25 Bhopal would be played at the court no one, Arera club tomorrow at 10:30 am between Maxim Zukhov (RUS) and Alistair Gray (GBR).