Purcell surmounts a spirited challenge from Medjedovic, meets Duckworth in final

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

Australian tennis players in India seem to be having a better time than their cricket counterparts. On Sunday, James Duckworth and Max Purcell will clash in the singles final of the dafaNEWS Bengaluru Open ATP Challenger.

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

Australia’s Max Purcell in action against Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

Purcell could have secured the result much earlier, having served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. But his 19-year-old opponent broke twice in the span of three games to stretch the contest into the decider.

Until then, Medjedovic had only displayed shades of the tennis he was capable of. Rather, Purcell didn’t allow him to find his big game. The 2022 Wimbledon doubles champion, with his varied style of which the backhand slice was a principal part, gave Medjedovic no pace to work with, requiring the Serb to do all the hard work.

Max Purcell.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

While Medjedovic’ s serve was erratic, Purcell’s was excellent, but for the second game of the second set when he was broken. The Aussie, who won 82% of his first-serve points, recovered and when he broke to 5-4 in the second set, the match was as good as over.

But Medjedovic rose from the dead, finding his biggest serves when he needed them the most, like from 0-30, 5-5, before clinching the set 7-5.

In the third, Medjedovic had a look at the Purcell serve in the second game and Purcell at Medjedovic’s in the ninth before it slipped into a tie-break. But once there, Medjedovic wilted under the pressure.

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

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

Later in doubles, the Korean-Taipei pair of Yunseong Chung and Yu Hsiou Hsu saved a match-point in the second set tie-breaker to defeat India’s Anirudh Chandrasekar and N. Vijay…