Olympian Vishnu Vardhan captured some of the old magic to subdue Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-6(3), 2-6, 7-5 in a battle of wits that lasted three hours and 31 minutes in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s tennis tournament here on Friday.
There was no dearth of bravery from the 22-year-old Nitin as he saved match points on his serve in the ninth game of the decider, before the 34-year-old Vishnu stepped up his game to sneak through in the climax.
After missing the match points while going for his big shots, Vishnu converted the first match point on his serve in the 12th game with a deft slice that took the sting out of Nitin’s challenge.
It was the rich experience of having won 10 singles titles and 40 doubles titles in the international professional circuit as much as his commendable physical fitness and sharp game that helped Vishnu prevail this day.
In the semifinals, Vishnu will take on Valentin Vacherot who proved too good for Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam.
Second seed Sidharth Rawat played a compact game to oust the reigning national champion Niki Poonacha who had won the last ITF event at the same venue in April.
In the semifinals, Sidharth will play Philip Sekulic of Australia who stopped Dev Javia in straight sets.
The results: Singles (quarterfinals): Vishnu Vardhan bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-6(3), 2-6, 7-5; Valentin Vacherot (Fra) bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-1, 6-3; Philip Sekulic (Aus) bt Dev Javia 7-5, 6-2; Sidharth Rawat bt Niki Poonacha 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles (semifinals): Saketh Myneni & Vishnu Vardhan bt Paras Dahiya & Parikshit Somani 6-3, 6-7(7), [11-9]; Julian Cash (GBr) & Zsombor Velcz (Hun) bt Anirudh Chandrasekar & Niki Poonacha 7-5, 6-3.
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