James Duckworth sealed an emotional fightback win over Jay Clarke to lift his fourth ATP Challenger trophy of the season at the KPIT-MSLTA Challenger in Pune on Sunday while hosts India had a doubles title to cheer.
The Australian second seed beat fifth seed Jay Clarke 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 after being a break down in the decider. The win guaranteed him 80 ranking points, which will see him break back into the top 100 and compete in the main draw of his home Major, Australian Open.
Later, in the all-Indian men’s doubles final, top seed Ramkumar Ramanathan and Purav Raja won an ATP Challenger doubles title for the second straight week as they beat Saketh Myneni and Arjun Kadhe 7-6 (3), 6-3. Ramkumar had won the doubles title last year at the event with N Vijay Sundar Prashanth.
The singles final between the Australian and Brit turned out to an entertaining, tightly-contested affair. The 21-year-old Clarke was down a break in the opening game but fought back with a flurry of winners to clinch the first set after almost an hour of play.
Duckworth, 27, faced triple-break point early in the second set but with a mix of grit and aggression, he held serve. After the four break points in the fifth game, he would not face another in the set and go on to take it with a clutch break. The Australian started coming to the net often and troubled Clarke’s groundstrokes from the baseline.
In the decider, Duckworth was under the pump again after going a break down at 3-4. But the resilient Aussie channeled the fighting spirit that saw him return to the sport after five surgeries and did not drop a game after that. He won three straight games after that, breaking Clarke’s serve twice.
After clinching the championship point with a backhand winner, he collapsed to the ground and then was seen sobbing in his towel. His fourth title from six finals on the ATP Challenger in 2019 ensures he will be back on the ATP Tour in 2020.
In the men’ doubles that followed, Ramkumar and Raja continued their unbeaten streak to eight matches. Cheered on by a loud home crowd, Kadhe and Myneni broke back after going break down in the seventh game to force a tiebreak. The scores were level at 3-3 before the top seeds pulled ahead to win four straight points.
The second set proved to be a more straightforward affair with the break of Myneni’s serve in the second game. Although Ramkumar wasted the first two championship points on serve, he clinched the deciding point with an ace.
This tournament ends Ramkumar’s ATP season while Raja will go on to play the last Challenger of 2019 in Portugal.
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