Yuki claims maiden ITF crown

Yuki Bhambri on Saturday won his first International Tennis Federation (ITF) title overcoming Vishnu Vardhan 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the $15,000 BHEL Futures at Delhi Lawn Tennis Association in their first final on the circuit.

The 16-year-old Delhi youngster, who won the junior Australian Open earlier this year, encountered a tough fight from compatriot Vardhan in the very first set though later made it in the second set with a break in the third game.

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Playing in his first ITF final Varhdan had earlier stunned top seed South African Raven Klaasen 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-2 in the semi-final Friday. He, however, couldn’t hold his serve despite having a crucial break in the 11th game.

Bhambri, on the other hand, in his semi-final clash had a straight-set victory over the Japanese Masato Hatanaka by 6-4, 6-4.

In fact, Yuki along with three others Vijayant Malik, Abhijeet Tiwari and Navdeep Singh was given wild cards for the event, while Vishnu had got direct acceptance from the main draw.

Vishnu, however, had a convincing (6-1, 6-0) win over Yuki in his last encounter in Challenger here in the capital city.