Second seeded and 25-year-old Oliver Crawford from Great Britain
annexed the Men’s singles title in the ITF Futures Tennis Championship here on Sunday evening.
He defeated eighth seed and 23-year-old Eric Vanshelboim of Ukraine in a gruelling three setter
that lasted close to three hours.
It was an epic final that brought best out of both the players and that saw skimming backhand
slices,tricky drops and lobs treating the good crowd to some exhilirating action.
Eric’s deep forehands, crisp volleys, glorious smashes from Oliver and simple graceful precise
serving from both players saw some engaging contest.
As Oliver said, ” We both had a plan and unfortunately there had to be a winner and a loser and
the difference was only a couple of points.”
He said “Rarely do players experience playing in front of an appreciative and large crowd. Thank
you all for being here”, he said.
Oliver got off to a blistering start leading 4-1 before Eric clawed his way back with tenacity and
control.
In that phase Eric used his backhand slice to control the length and height of the ball, slowed
down the game and executed delectable drop shots close to the net which upset Oliver’s rhythm.
Eric broke back in the seventh game and held serve to level score at 4-all.
After, both the players held serve to make it 5-all, Eric continued to play his brand of tenacious
tennis – returning firmly, dinking the ball over the net to his opponent’s feet and then passing him
with relative ease to break Oliver’s serve in the eleventh game.
With Eric leading 6-5 an amazing point was played during which both players criss-crossed
all over the court before Eric won the point and Oliver let out an audible obscenity.
Lavleen Razada, the chair umpire was forced to give him a point penalty. Eric went on to hold
serve to clinch the first set 7-5.
In the second set, Oliver was at his attacking best picking up the ball on the rise, moving in and
playing penetrative volleys and well placed smashes, while Eric seemed to lose intensity and
became error prone.
Olivers’s brave tactics enabled him to win the second set 6-3 to level the score.
In the third set, Eric continued his consistent and steady play using the backhand slice to great
effect and broke Oliver in the eighth game to go ahead 5-3 and serve to follow.
Eric had two match points at 40-15 and on both occasions. After a fast paced rally, Oliver
unleashed forehand cross court winners deep into the corner to make it deuce and then
broke serve. He held his own to make it 5-all.
Both players held serve to make it 6-all and a tiebreak followed in which Eric led 5-2 when
Oliver charged at the net to win two points with crosscourt volley winners to make it 4-5.
A backhand error from Eric made it 5-all. Oliver played a forcing shot to go ahead 6-5 and
then forced a backhand error from Eric to close out the decisive tiebreak 7-5 to win a
deserving title, aprt from the prize fund of USD 4,612 (Rs3.8 lakhs appr.) and 25 ATP points,
while Eric received USD 2,701( Rs. 2.22 lakhs appr.) and 16 ATP points.
Results :
Men’s Singles :
Final:
Oliver Crawford (Great Britain) beat Eric Vanshelboim ( Ukraine) 5-7,6-3,7-6(5).
