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The French tennis star Benjamin Bonzi registered a sensational 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-1 victory against the World No. 35 Botic van de Zandschulp to progress into the singles final in the fifth edition of the $ 713,495 Tata Open Maharashtra at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Friday.
The 26-year-old Bonzi began the semi-final by winning an exciting opening set but the No. 2 seed Van de Zandschulp fought-back well, taking away the next which saw equally intense battle between the two as both the sets went into tie-breakers.
Bozi, however, shifted the gears impressively in the decider and looked in complete command as he not only made a spectacular comeback to pocket the set in a dominating fashion but also clinched the nail-biting three-setter.
The on-going edition of South Asia’s only ATP 250 event is being conducted by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) in association with the Government of Maharashtra for the fifth year in Pune.
The World No. 60 Bonzi will face Tallon Griekspoor in the final on Saturday. Griekspoor, ranked 95th in the world, sent packing No. 8 seed Aslan Karatsev 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the other semi-final.
The in-form Indian pair of N. Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will be in action later tonight as they will take on Julian Cash-Henry Patten in the doubles semi-finals.
Belgium pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen upset top seeded duo of Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (Great Britain) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4) in the doubles semi-final. Earlier, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury had beaten Ramkumar Ramanathan (India) and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (Mexico) 6-2 6-1 in doubles quarter-final.
