Pune, Feb 24 (PTI) Australia’s third seeded Adam Walton on Saturday set up a summit clash against Monaco’s Valentin Vacherot in the Pune ATP Challenger 100 men’s international tournament here.
In the semifinal played at the Mahalunge Balewadi Stadium, Walton overcame a stiff challenge from the second seeded Duje Ajdukovic to win 7-5,7-6(6) in one hour and 49 minutes.
Walton won the first set 7-5 and then led 5-2 in the second before the Croatian started his fightback. Ajdukovic saved four match points to level the set at 5-5 and then force a tiebreak.
Adjukovic even held a set point in the tiebreaker but Walton stood his ground for a 7-5, 7-6(6) victory to record his eleventh win in his last twelve matches.
The world No 154 Croatian had won the Burnie Challenger and then reached the quarterfinals in the Bengaluru Challenger in the last two weeks.
In the second semi-final, the fourth seed Valentin Vacherot avoided an all-Australian final, defeating the seventh seeded Dane Sweeny.
Vacherot lost the first set 4-6 but bounced back to take the next two sets to complete the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win in one hour and 49 minutes.
Vacherot has won two consecutive ATP Challengers in Thailand at the start of the year and has now won 18 of his last 19 matches on the tour.
Meanwhile, the unseeded Australian pair of Tristian Schoolmate and Walton won the doubles final, defeating the third seed Dan Added (France) and Yunseong Chung (South Korea) by a margin of 7-6(5),7-5 to lift the title and bag 100 ATP points. PTI DDV AH AH AH
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