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Ace man Vesely roars into final
Overcame second seeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6 (8), 7-6(3), 7-6 (7) to enter the final of Tata Open Maharashtra.
Pune World No 107, Jiri Vesely followed one common pattern during his semi-final match—‘serve an ace whenever in trouble’. The tactics helped him overcome second seeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 7-6 (8), 7-6(3), 7-6 (7) to enter the final of Tata Open Maharashtra.
With crowd getting behind him at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Saturday, the sixth seeded, Vesely, saved four match points in the tie-breaker to seal victory in the match.
It will be his first final at the ATP tour level after April 2015, Romanian Open, where he went down 6-7(5), 6-7(13) against Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain.
“It’s been time. I played couple of semi-finals but could not advance. I hope, to win it tomorrow. Playing tough matches will help me.” said Vesely who will be now facing Egor Gerasimov of Belarus, who defeated James Duckworth of Australia 7-6(2), 6-4 in the final.
With this win, Vesely now has the highest number of aces (58) in the current edition of the tournament.
“I think, I need to keep focus on my serve tomorrow as well. I have served well throughout the tournament with lot of aces. So that is my biggest weapon. I definitely have to improve my forehand because I feel I am still making many unforced errors,” added Vesely.
Vesely started well by breaking Berankis’ serve in the fourth game but was broken back immediately to make it 3-2. Thereafter, the players kept holding serve.
It was only in the 11th game, Vesely had chance to break Breankis but he saved double break points to make it 6-5. Vesely held his serve to force a tie-breaker that Berankis went on to win 10-8 despite serving a double fault.
In the second set, Vesely came out good with his forehand cross-court returns and it helped him to win 7-3 in the tie-breaker. In the decider, Vesely broke Berankis’ service in third but lost his own serve in the next game matter was settled in tie-breaker once again.
It was a satisfactory win for Vesely as Berankis had prevailed when they had earlier met in the 2019 US Open.
“At the US Open I was serving up for the set and got very nervous --lost the momentum, lost the set. So, today I am very happy with my performance and the way I gave fight and did not give up.
Results:
Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt 2-Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 7-6 (8), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7); 8-Egor Gerasimov (Blr) bt 6-James Duckworth (Aus) 7-6 (2), 6-4.
