Sport - Tennis

Yen-Hsun Lu wins

NEW DELHI: Top-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei revealed considerable reserves of energy in recording a 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Brendan Evans of the U.S. in the final of the SAIL Open $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

It was the second Challenger title this season for the 24-year-old Lu following the triumph in the Waikoloa Challenger in the U.S. in January.

It was his eighth Challenger title from 20 finals. Equally, it was a relief for the Taipei lad to grab the title after having lost successive finals last month in the Challengers at Lanzarote, Spain and Busan, Korea.

In a nerve-wracking contest, it was the seventh-seeded Evans who had the control over the proceedings till he tripped and twisted his ankle while following up on his serve in the third game of the second set.

Although the American was brave to resume after medical attention and continued to provide a quality fare, his relative immobility conceded that much advantage to the Taipei lad, who attacked with renewed vigour to drive home his supremacy.

It was the third meeting between the two on the professional circuit and it was the best resistance provided by the American who had won only 10 games in all in four sets in the previous encounters spread over the last two years.

Actually, it was Lu who broke Evans first in the third game of the first set, but the American, serving and volleying with poise and power, broke back in the sixth game and broke again in the 12th game to pocket the first set.

It was Lu again who broke Evans in the first game of the second set, but returned the compliment by getting broken in the second game with a doublefault.

Thereafter, both served very well to force the tie-break, and Lu pulled ahead with his stunning passing shots that had the American stranded.

Into the decider, it was Lu who commanded the show as he smacked passing shots and return winners to break Evans in the fourth game, which eventually proved decisive.

The American saved three breakpoints in the sixth game to avoid further embarrassment, but Lu was serving so well and stroking with such intensity that there was no room for any further drama in the climax, in the energy-sapping exercise that lasted two hours and 25 minutes.

The winner collected 55 ATP points and $7,200 while the runner-up had to settle for 38 ATP points and $4,240.

The Director, Finance, of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Shailesh Bhattacharya, presented the prizes.

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