Digvijay tames Vardhan to reach Fenesta Open final

NEW DELHI: Digvijay Pratap Singh stopped the winning run of veteran Vishnu Vardhan to earn another shot at the men’s title at the Fenesta Open National tennis championships here on Saturday.

Second seeded Digvijay tamed the 35-year-old Vardhan 6-4, 6-4 to reach his second consecutive final of the hard-court tournament at the DLTA tennis complex.

The 22-year-old Haryana lad, who had finished runner-up to Nikki Poonacha last year, will take on Tamil Nadu’s top seed Manish Sureshkumar, who breezed past 18-year-old Chirag Duhan 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

“This win means a lot because last year I lost the finals having three match points. I hope I can convert it and get the win this time,” said Digvijay, who trains at the National Tennis Centre located at the same venue.

The victory was even sweeter for Digvijay as he had lost to Vardhan in the ITF event in Bhopal earlier this year.

“For sure it was a complicated match. He has played big games and much more experienced than me. I just went in there fully focused, serve well and wait for the chances. It worked for me,” said Digvijay, who was introduced to the game by his wrestler father Sukhbir Singh.

On what he lessons he learnt from his loss to Vardhan in the previous outing, he said, “basically, not to relax when I am leading. I just made sure I didn’t give any free points.”

Before joining the NTC, Digvijay had trained at the Madrid tennis federation in Spain. That stint seemed to have provided him the weapons and knowledge to tackle a big serve and volleyer like Vardhan.

The former Davis Cupper saved three breakpoints to hold serve in the fifth game of the first set.

In the seventh game, Vardhan saved a triple breakpoint but Digvijay was relentless and converted his fourth opportunity to go up 4-3.

“It is just very complicated to play with them because they don’t give you any rhythm. You just need to play your game and wait for your opportunities,” the youngster said.

“First set, he was serving very well. I still had a couple of breakpoints, but he gave me a hard time. But I kept my serve, in end he got a bit nervous, and I got the break.”

In the second set, Vardhan fought back from 1-3 down but under Digvijay's sustained pressure, the Hyderabadi dropped serve in the ninth game with a double-fault.