Purcell wears Bengaluru Open crown

It perhaps took Max Purcell almost a set and a half to let go of the fact that he had to overcome the challenge of beating a good friend to win a second ATP Challenger title in as many weeks.

“I think both of us will be happy for each other, irrespective of whoever wins,” the 24-year-old Australian had said the previous day about facing compatriot James Duckworth in the final of DafaNews Bengaluru Open.

When he did manage to shake off this tricky situation, Purcell scored a hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 win to be crowned the 2023 champion at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) here.In the beginning, it looked like the 31-year-old Duckworth wasn’t fighting such emotions. With his game face on, the older Aussie came out treating Purcell like any other opponent to race away with the first set 6-3. Purcell, however, for the first time in the tournament looked uncomfortable.

The younger Aussie kept shaking his head in disbelief. Until something changed in the middle of the second set. In the sixth game, to be precise. A confident Duckworth was caught by surprise when Purcell ran down every ball to return some seemingly unreturnable shots to suddenly earn himself a few breakpoints.

Purcell watched the replay of the previous points he won on the big screen between serves to draw some inspiration. This, along with feeding off the crowd, he slowly clawed his way back into the contest to clinch the second set 7-5.

But, Duckworth, a man who has undergone nine surgeries - three on the right foot, three on the right elbow, two on the right shoulder and one on the hip - wasn’t going to roll over.

The third saw two friends turn into opponents in the truest sense, with each refusing to let go of their service games. There were a few long games, and several breakpoints but both held their serves to force the tie-breaker.

Purcell, who thrives on patience, waited for aggressive Duckworth to lose his composure in the final dash to the trophy. A few unforced errors and a change in body language from the latter, saw Purcell walk away as the champion after a two-hour 49 minutes duel.

The consolation, at least, will remain that the win and loss were experienced while playing against a good friend.