Saketh, Ramkumar win doubles crown; Gojo, Tseng in singles title tilt at Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger

Bengaluru, Feb 12: Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan elevated the mood of the weekend crowd by lifting the doubles title of the Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger after dominating their French rivals Hugo Grenier and Alexandre Muller in the finals played at the KSLTA Stadium here on Saturday. Banking on the support of the local crowd, the Indian pair won in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. This was Saketh’s ninth doubles title at Challengers while Ramkumar registered a third victory in as many weeks with his victory today.

Meanwhile, Qualifier Borna Gojo of Croatia rallied brilliantly from a set down to put up a fantastic display in the last two sets against Frenchman Alexandre Muller and storm into the final of the singles event where he will clash with Taipei’s Chun-hsin Tseng for the title. The latter scripted an upset victory over sixth seed Enzo Couacaud, also of France with a 7-5, 6-4, after being 2-5 down in the first set to make it to the summit clash.

The combination of the fast serves of Ramkumar and the deft volleys by Saketh proved to be a deadly combination as the duo raced to a 4-1 lead before annexing the first set at 6-3. A visibly tired Muller, who had played two matches yesterday and Grenier could not contain the onslaught of winners from the Indian pair and succumbed without much fight.

The Gojo-Muller match proved to a perfect match as both the players held their serves until the ninth game where Gojo lost his serve and eventually the set. The second set also followed a similar pattern until Gojo broke his opponent’s serve to go 5-3 up and held his serve to make his way back into the match. The momentum helped him so much that he did not give a semblance of a chance for his rival to make a comeback as he blanked Muller on the back of three breaks.

In the other semifinal, after Enzo had held his serve, the opponents broke each other’s serve in the next three games as the Taipei player was down 2-5. Once he got into the rhythm, Tseng never looked back winning five games in a row to capture the first set 7-5. In the second set, both the players tested each other with Tseng finding the break he was looking for in the fifth game to wrap up the set and match.

Results

Men’s Singles Semifinals

Q-Borna Gojo (CRO) bt Alexandre Muller (FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Chun-hsin Tseng (TPE) bt 6-Enzo Couacaud (FRA) 7-5, 6-4.

Final line-up

Q-Borna Gojo (CRO) Vs. Chun-hsin Tseng (TPE)

Men’s Doubles Finals

3-Saketh Myneni (IND)/Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND) bt Hugo Grenier (FRA)/Alexandre Muller (FRA) 6-3, 6-2.