Second seed P. Vishnu Vardhan defeated seventh-seeded Sriram Balaji 7-6(7), 6-3 in the final to take the title in the Zuari Garden City-ITF $10,000 tennis tournament here on Saturday.
Vishnu, with his powerful serves and consistent returns, prevailed over his 22-year-old rival who did not capitalise on the chances, especially in the tie-breaker of the first set.
Sriram, despite serving half-a-dozen aces and attacking strongly to have Vishnu in trouble, was unable to break his rival's serve in both the sets which offset his spirited effort.
In fact, it was Sriram's serve that came under pressure on several occasions in the first set where the first, seventh and 11th games went to deuce. With both holding serve, the first set went to the tie-breaker.
Remarkable recovery
In the tie-break, Sriram was serving at 6-3, one point away from taking the set, when Vishnu recovered to draw level and finally won 9-7, with Sriram putting one wide over the baseline.
The second set too proved an absorbing affair marked by some keen rallies before Sriram wilted in the eighth game with some unforced errors.
He dropped serve by slamming a forehand return out. Vishnu, who took a 5-3 lead with that break, served out the match in style to emerge a worthy winner.
An elated Vishnu said, “I am happy to win here. Sriram is an improved player and has done well on the ITF circuit in India and is always a tough rival.
“I think he was unlucky in the first set where he had three set points in the tie-break. I had to rely on my experience to get through.
“In the second set, however, it was much easier as he seemed to be tiring out after having played a doubles final and a three-set semifinals on Friday.”
Vishnu won $1300 and 18 points while Sriram took home $900 and earned 12 points.
The prizes to the winners were given away by Binayak Dutta, CFO, Zuari Industries. P.S. Vastrad, Deputy Commissioner & District Administrator, Mysore and Chairman, Organising Committee,Karti Chidambaram, Vice President, All India Tennis Association (AITA), K.L. Sudeer, Commissioner of Police, Mysore.
Former Test cricketer Javagal Srinath and KSTA Hon. Secretary Sunder Raju were the others present.
The result (final): P. Vishnu Vardhan bt Sriram Balaji 7-6(7), 6-3.