Pune After the semi-finals on Saturday, Jiri Vesely had said, “I will keep focus on my serves.” He stayed true to his word and produced 26 aces on Sunday to take home Tata Open Maharashtra title, defeating Egor Gerasimov of Belarus 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3 in a two hours and 11 minutes battle in the final.
Enjoying healthy crowd support at Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Vesely blasted 12 aces in the first set, followed it up with six and eight in second and third respectively. Gerasimov could only hit 11. Vesely, thus, finished the tournament with 94 aces in all, the most in this edition..
“There are plenty of things to improve. It’s been great serving, but I still believe I can be still better. I think, if you keep improving your best shots then I think you really make it perfect. I will maintain focus on improving my biggest serves,” added Vesely after the match.
Gaining 250 ATP points for this win, Vesely (520 points) will be back in top 100, possibly moving up to 72 when the fresh list is released on Monday.
“I am happy to get in top 100, so I am guaranteed to get entry in few big tournaments which was the goal for this season. It is just beginning of the February, and I am about to be back on ATP tournaments which is really great,” said Vesely.
{{/usCountry}}“I am happy to get in top 100, so I am guaranteed to get entry in few big tournaments which was the goal for this season. It is just beginning of the February, and I am about to be back on ATP tournaments which is really great,” said Vesely.
{{/usCountry}}Trading in breaks in the first two games, Vesely and Gerasimov held their serve thereafter to take the first set into the tie-breaker.
Vesely, was bang on target in the tie-breaker as he opened up a 3-0 lead, and though Gerasimov made it 2-3 with powerful ace, it did not make much impact on Vesely as he sealed the tie-breaker 7-2 with a forehand winner.
“It was all about up and down and about how you use your chances. Serve is crazy because in last two matches he has more than 25 aces so it is very tough,” said Gerasimov.
In the second set, score was even till 5-all before Gerasimov broke Vesely’s service in 11th game. World No 90 Gerasimov, held his service next to force a decider.
In the final set, Vesely was on song again as he broke his rival’s service in the second game. After that Vesely maintained control over the proceedings to script a clinical win.
“Once I was broken, it was very tough since he has very good serve I could not (make a) comeback,” added Gerasimov.
Earlier, Andre Goransson of Sweden and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia defeated third seeded Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Andrie Vasilevski of Belarus 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 to win the doubles title. The duo, playing together since last one year, conquered their first ATP tour level title.
Result (all finals):
Singles: Jiri Vesely (CZE) bt Egor Gerasimov(BLR) 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3.
Doubles: Andre Goransson (SWE)/Christopher Rungkat (INA) bt 3- Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/Andrie Vasilevski (BLR) 6-2, 3-6, 10-8