Vardhan shocks Bhambri to enter ITF final

Third seed Vishnu Vardhan upset top seed Yuki Bhambri to set up a title-clash with qualifier Jeevan Nendunchezhiyan, in the US $15,000 Solaris ITF men's Futures Tennis Championships in Pune on Friday.

In a well-contested semi-final that lasted three hours, Vardhan avenged his defeat at the hardcourt Nationals by scraping past title-favourite Bhambri 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 at the Club Solaris Aquaya's courts.

Jeevan made it to Saturday's final after his opponent, sixth seed Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan, retired with a shoulder injury at 3-6, 6-4.

Alexander Satschko of Germany and Rohan Gajjar of India beat top seeds Vishnu Vardhan and Karan Rastogi 4-6, 7-6(1), 10-8 to win the doubles title.

"I'm happy to have leveled our career record to 2-2 this year. We have been playing since 2009. We know each other's game," said Vardhan, ranked 395 in the world, after entering the final.

"I played very well today. I wanted to do something different, played serve and volley, and when Yuki started reading my game, started playing normal game from the baseline which threw him into problems," he added.

In the other semi-final, Ranjeet continued his form that saw him oust the fourth seed Karan Rastogi on Thursday by winning the opening set against Jeevan, before a shoulder injury in the second set upset his chances when the two were level at 3-3.

After two medical time-outs and some uncomfortable moments, Ranjeet decided to give up.