Pedro Martinez
Credit: DH Photo/KRISHNAKUMAR P S
Bengaluru: Top-seeded Spaniard Pedro Martinez dominated the court to lift the Bengaluru Open title as the world No. 96 defeated the sixth seed Kazakh Timofey Skatov in straight sets 7-6 (5), 6-3 at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Saturday.
Meanwhile in the doubles final, Colombian-American pair Nicolas Barrientos and Benjamin Kittay defeated French duo Luca Sanchez and Arthur Reymond in an intense final 7-6 (11), 7-5.
The crowd, however, was kept on the edge of their seats in the singles final in what turned out to be an enthralling battle in the first set.
The 28-year-old Martinez, who showed a familiar pattern of understanding his opponent in the first set before going for the jugular in the second, had to work hard for his eighth ATP Challenger title against the 24-year-old Kazakh rival who came into final dropping no sets in the season opener so far.
The first set lived upto its billing as both rivals held on to their serves by bringing their own set of qualities to the match.
While Skatov used an array of his serves, including top spin and slice services, to test his rival's retrieving abilities, Martinez's serves showed an increase in tempo as it only got faster with every game.
The duo held on to their serves with comfort until the eighth game when the Spanish man got a clear idea of his 5'11'' Kazakh rival's retrieval abilities with some youthful court coverage followed by a cross-court forehand winner.
Skatov went on to earn himself a break point opportunity with his never-say-die attitude around the court but his opponent had the experience on his side to hold the serve.
The 6'1'' Martinez was then smart enough to attack a now-tired looking Kazakh after all those running and made him toy hard to save three set points while struggling to find accuracy with his serves.
The Kazakh, however, showed he just lost a bit of momentum and soon regained it to take the match into tie breaker.
The tie breaker turned into another see-saw battle with both taking points off their serves before a rain interruption came at 3-3.
The match resumed following a 20 minute break and took a bit of rhythm away from the match as the Kazakh returned to the court with an unforced error, allowing Martinez just the opening he needed to take the set.
The Spanish carried the momentum straight into the second set as he broke the Kazakh off the first game to gain an upper hand. Skatov did himself no favour either with unforced errors.
It was only Martinez's game to lose from this point and the Spanish only turned bullish on his service game allowing next to no opportunity to Skatov, who dropped his serve again after handing three break points to his higher-ranked opponent to complete the formalities.
Results: Final: Singles: 1-Pedro Martinez (ESP) bt 6-Timofey Skatov (Kaz) 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Doubles: 4-Nicolas Barrientos (Col)/Benjamin Kittay (USA) bt 3-Luca Sanchez/Arthur Reymond (Fra) 7-6 (11), 7-5.