On a roll: Purcell has put himself in line for a second straight title after his Chennai success.| Photo Credit: Okay. MURALI KUMAR

Australian tennis gamers in India appear to be having a greater time than their cricket counterparts. On Sunday, James Duckworth and Max Purcell will conflict within the singles last of the dafaNEWS Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger.

At the KSLTA courts on Saturday, Duckworth simply despatched compatriot and qualifier James McCabe 6-3, 6-3, earlier than Purcell overcame a spirited problem from Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(4) to present himself a shot at successful a second straight Challenger after his success in Chennai.

Australia’s Max Purcell in motion towards Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic| Photo Credit:Okay. MURALI KUMAR

Purcell may have secured the consequence a lot earlier, having served for the match at 5-4 within the second set. But his 19-year-old opponent broke twice within the span of three video games to stretch the competition into the decider.

Until then, Medjedovic had solely displayed shades of the tennis he was able to. Rather, Purcell didn’t permit him to search out his huge recreation. The 2022 Wimbledon doubles champion, along with his assorted type of which the backhand slice was a principal half, gave Medjedovic no tempo to work with, requiring the Serb to do all of the onerous work.

Max Purcell.| Photo Credit:Okay. MURALI KUMAR

While Medjedovic’ s serve was erratic, Purcell’s was glorious, however for the second recreation of the second set when he was damaged. The Aussie, who gained 82% of his first-serve factors, recovered and when he broke to 5-4 within the second set, the match was nearly as good as over.

But Medjedovic rose from the useless, discovering his greatest serves when he wanted them essentially the most, like from 0-30, 5-5, earlier than clinching the set 7-5.

In the third, Medjedovic had a have a look at the Purcell serve within the second recreation and Purcell at Medjedovic’s within the ninth earlier than it slipped right into a tie-break. But as soon as there, Medjedovic wilted underneath the strain.

The Korean-Taipei pair of Yunseong Chung and Yu Hsiou Hsu which acquired the higher of Anirudh Chandrasekar and N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth.| Photo Credit:Okay. MURALI KUMAR

An ill-advised drop shot – of which there have been many – that didn’t cross the online gave Purcell a mini-break, and from 5-4, the World No. 155 closed it out with two high-quality first serves.

Later in doubles, the Korean-Taipei pair of Yunseong Chung and Yu Hsiou Hsu saved a match-point within the second set tie-breaker to defeat India’s Anirudh Chandrasekar and N. Vijay Sundar Prashanth 3-6, 7-6(7), [11-9].