Yuki Bhambri back to winning ways, Bhuvana Kalva stuns Ankita Raina

Yuki Bhambri

Former Indian no.1 and junior Grand Slam winner Yuki Bhambri has won his first singles title after his injury setback earlier this year.

The 19-year-old Bhambri retired due to injury early in April in a Futures final at Qatar. He has since started playing in the US Challenger tournaments and now in Futures events. Last month, he won a challenger event in the US with Michael Venus, defeating Somdev Devvarman and Jack Sock.

Since his progression to the senior level, he has found it hard to deliver as well as he did during his junior days. Many have pointed out that Bernard Tomic, Ryan Harrison and the likes have adapted well to the rigour of the pro circuit while Bhambri has failed to make even a breakthrough.

A major concern has been injuries while have plagued him intermittently during this period. He has had a few wins over quality players like Denis Istomin and has give a tough fight to many. Yet, his results are very inconsistent. Training at the Nick Bollettieri academy with the likes of Kei Nishikori and Sabine Lisicki also to be found around, he is in the right place for honing his skills.

It has rather been a concern of late, his lack of form. Yet, one can believe that this talented youngster is not far away from regaining a top 200 spot which he held before his injuries resulted in the freefall of his ranking to the present 593rd spot.

Last week, at the Chinese Taipei F1 futures, he reached the finals where he retired due to cramps when he and Liang Chi Huang were tied at one set each at 4-6 7-5. It was reminiscent of the Qatar final where he led by a set and even took a lead in the second set tie break before retiring.

Luckily, he was able to participate in the Futures event held this week. In today’s final, he won 7-5 6-4 against Kento Takeuchi. He did not drop a set enroute to the finals. If this is any indication that he is fit again, we could look forward to some anxious moments waiting to to see him work his way through the Challenger events and probably realise his true potential in the future.

Another sensational news came from New Delhi where a $10,000 ITF Women’s event is taking place.

After scoring a convincing victory over India’s no.1 in-form player Ankita Raina in the semifinals, Bhuvana Kalva won the title by overcoming the sixth seeded Japanese Akari Inoue 6-4 7-5 in the finals.

Her victory over Raina was shocking as her’s was a name unheard in among even ardent Indian tennis fans. One could have thought that Ankita’s injury was again the cause. She has not lost a match to another Indian woman in quite some time, setting herself a class apart.

Bhuvana had also routed the third seed in the initial round. he doubles event, however, did not see an Indian capture the trophy.

Other results from from the Futures Events(all Finals)

At the $10,000 Egypt futures

Sriram Balaji/Ranjeet Virali Murugesan (1) lost to Sebastian Rivera/Ricardo Urzua-Rivera 4-6 6-7(4)

At the $15,000 Gabon Futures

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (2) lost to Arthur Surreaux 6-4 4-6 5-7

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan/Vishnu Vardhan (2) lost to Sam Barry/Elie Rousset (1) 0-6 0-6