STRONG SURGE: Top seed Ti Chen survived three matchpoints to get past Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and enter the final. Photo: Special Arrangement
An upset loomed but — as he has done in the recent past — top-seed Ti Chen of Chinese Taipei, lived to tell the tale in the $10,000 Toyota Bangalore Open ITF tournament in progress at the KSLTA Court here on Friday.
After losing the first set 3-6 and trailing 4-6 in the second set tie-break, Ti was staring at the exit gate in the semifinal against the fourth-seeded Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan. The top-seed, however, staved off two match points — and one more at 6-7 — to wrest control of the match.
He then pocketed the third 6-4 while Jeevan lost his way amidst mounting frustration.
Jeevan's errors and his anger that evoked a code-violation warning, was a distant picture when the match commenced in the morning. He broke Ti in the third and ninth games to sew up the first set, and matched his rival right through the second before frittering away his chances in the tie-breaker that went awfully wrong for the Tamil Nadu lad.
Jeevan fretted and fumed while Ti denied him the pace and mixed his shots.
Ti will now clash with the second-seeded Vishnu Vardhan in the final on Saturday.
Vishnu defeated fifth seed V.M. Ranjeet 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3 in a contest that was split by afternoon showers.
The second set provided the spark with Ranjeet claiming the tie-breaker with three winners on the trot.
A 40-minute rain intervention ate into the third set before Vishnu prevailed.
The inclement weather also forced the organisers to shift the doubles final to Saturday.
The results: Semifinals:
Ti Chen (Tpe) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4; Vishnu Vardhan bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3.
Bangalore, June 16, 2012
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