Vishnu Vardhan loses to Ruben Bemelmans in the second qualifier – Aircel Chennai Open 2013
World number 345, India’s Vishnu Vardhan, fought well against the top seed, Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium, but went down in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 1-6 in the second round of the qualifying draw at the Aircel Chennai Open in India.
The Indian player lost this close battle in an hour and 38 minutes and failed to advance to the main draw of the ATP World Tour 250 outdoor hard court tournament.
Bemelmans broke the Indian contender in the very first game of the contest and held his next serve to move ahead 2-0. The Belgian national did not allow Vardhan to make a comeback till the end, sealing it 6-4.
The 24-year-old banged in four aces and committed a single double fault, keeping his first serve percentage at 62 and converting 14 of the 17 of them into points. The Belgian player did not come across any break threat and availed
one of the two opportunities he created in the opener.
Just like the first set, Bemelmans struck in the opening game of the second one and consolidated on it to attain a 2-0 lead. However, Vardhan broke back in the sixth this time to level the proceedings at 3-3. Serving to stay in
the set at 4-5, Bemelmans could not hold and threw it away 4-6.
The Indian player pounded four aces on his opponent and captured 15 of the 18 points on the first deliveries. The right-hander gave a lacklustre performance on the second ones, as he lost seven of the 10 points on them including
a couple of double faults. However, he was the better player on crucial moments, converting two of the three break points.
Final set was expected to be a close one but it turned out to be the most one sided, as Bemelmans allowed Vardhan to claim only one game till the end, breaking the Indian player thrice and holding his entire own serves to capture
it 6-1.
The Belgian contestant is slated to take on the world number 420, Filip Krajinovic of Serbia, for a place in the main draw of this event.
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