Chennai Open | Yuki Bhambri falls at final hurdle against Jordan Thompson
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After an impressive run at the Chennai Open, Yuki Bhambri went the distance in the final but failed to get the better of Australia’s Jordan Thompson. After losing the first set 5-7, the Indian fought his way back in the second but unforced errors resulted in the Aussie edging him out in the decider.
Bhambri made his way to the final of the tournament after dropping just one set in the four matches that he had played. There was only one player who had a better record and that was his opponent in the final, Jordan Thompson, who had made it all the way to the last match without dropping a single set. However, the Indian had earlier beaten the Australian in the only encounter between the two in Shanghai in 2015.
Unforced errors cost Bhambri the opening set
After winning the first point of the final, Thompson conceded the next three points to give the Indian his first break points and after missing the first one, Bhambri broke the Australian in the first game of the final. However, the Indian star couldn’t hold on to the advantage and lost his serve in identical fashion in the very next game. But Bhambri was in no mood to let the advantage slip and broke back immediately. That, however, only made Thompson fight back harder and win himself yet another breakpoint which Bhambri denied him to take a 3-1 lead early in the game. With Thompson finally holding his serve, the pressure was right back on the Indian, who was in a 12-point rally, conceded the advantage due to too many unforced errors. The errors came coming off Bhambri’s racquet as he struggled to find his range and for the first time in the match started his serve trailing 4-3. However, the Indian saw off yet another resolute attack from the Aussie and with a couple of precise forehand shots forced the errors to bring the scores level again. The Aussie held his serve in his next two games while the Indian took his serve sandwiched between the two. The Indian’s unforced errors came to the fore again in the final game of the set as he handed his opponent two set points. The Aussie needed just one as Bhambri yet again missed a passing shot to gift Thompson the first set.
Dominant Bhambri finds his range and takes the final into a decider
Bhambri, however, has no intentions of letting the Aussie run away with the match and in the first game of the second set, that lasted 12 points, he secured
Thompson edges out Bhambri in third set thriller
The Indian got off to the worst possible start to the decider as he committed two unforced errors while attempting a down the line winner on his backhand and that resulted in the Aussie going a breakup. Despite putting some pressure on the Thompson serve, Bhambri wasn’t able to capitalize and to make things worse, lost his serve again at the second time of asking in the set to go 0-3 down. As had been the trend in the match, the Indian came roaring back to reduce the break deficit to just one and by holding his serve in the next game, he did the same for the set as the scoreboard read 3-2 in the Aussie’s favour. In the sixth game of the set, the Aussie found himself facing two break point and even though he saved one, the Indian took his chance at the second time of asking to draw level in the decider. Bhambri’s over-eager approach, though, got the better of him as just after a game after making a comeback, he handed the initiative back to the Aussie. However, he regained his composure quickly and broke back in the very next game to level the scores at 4-4. After a brilliant service game from Bhambri put the Australian on the backfoot, the Indian had a chance to win the title at 30-40. But not only did Thompson save the break point, he came up with two consecutive aces to wrap up the game. It came back to haunt the Indian as he was broken in the 11th game of the set to give the Aussie a chance to serve for the match. Thompson came up with a near perfect service game to seal the match and the title at the SDAT stadium in Chennai.
