Swede Elias Ymer emerged a hair’s breadth better than the top-seeded Briton Billy Harris, winning two tie-breaks in a semifinal match that lasted for around two-and-a-half hours in the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT tennis stadium here on Saturday.
Ymer won the match 7-6(5), 7-6(2).
It was a match where both served well, and none broke. Ymer hit ten aces to Harris’ four, including the one he hit to secure the first set and let out a guttural yell. Ymer was especially hyped for it since Harris had just saved a set point.
Ymer resorted to keeping Harris on the move to counter his heavy groundstrokes. The real clincher was his ability to smartly place his winners – on the corners and margins. It also helped that he had an early lead in the tie-breaks: 2-0 in the first and 3-0 in the second.
It didn’t help Harris that he erred more than his opponent. For instance, he double-faulted and made a few unforced errors to concede the 3-0 lead in the second tie-break.
In the first semifinal, Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet claimed a relatively easier 6-4, 6-1 win over Czech Dalibor Svrcina.
“I think he had a problem with the heat. I was struggling (with the heat) too, but I saw him struggling more than me. I’m happy about this win. It’s good to be in a final again,” said Jacquet, who’d last made it to a Challenger final in July last year.
Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni, the Indian pair, lost 6-4, 6-4 to the Japanese duo Shintaro Mochizuki and Kaito Uesugi in the doubles final.
Vijay Amritraj: ATP revamping schedule
Indian tennis legend and the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) President Vijay Amritraj gave an update on his effort to bring an ATP 250 event to India.
“The ATP is revamping their whole schedule. So, they’ve come out with a calendar for 2026. There are two open weeks. There are two TBDs (To Be Decided) in the calendar. One in the summer, and one in the fall. So, I had gone after the fall event around eight or nine months ago. That’s the Moscow event. That’s now become a TBD. Two years ago, they put that event in Tel Aviv (Israel). Then, they took it out of Israel and stuck it for one year in Sofia (Bulgaria). And I’m sitting here saying, ‘Hey, give me the event!’
“The problem is that it’s a winter tournament and it’s here in November. So, we also have our window of Dec-Jan-Feb, or potentially two weeks in September after the U.S. Open. So, our windows are also a little narrow on when we can afford to have it. So, that’s been the dilemma for them,” he said on the sidelines of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger at the SDAT tennis stadium here.
The results:
Singles (semifinals): Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Billy Harris (GBr) 7-6, 7-6; Kyrian Jacquet (Fra) bt Dalibor Svrcina (Cze) 6-4, 6-1.
Doubles (final, Indians unless mentioned): Shintaro Mochizuki (Jpn) and Kaito Uesugi (Jpn) bt Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-4.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com