Bengaluru Tennis Open: Pedro Martínez lives up to his top billing

Bengaluru: Spain’s Pedro Martinez justified his top billing at the Bengaluru Open as he saw off France’s Matteo Martineau 7-6 (4), 6-1 to reach the final at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium on Friday.

Pedro will square off against sixth seed Kazakh Timofey Skatov, who made a strong case for the marquee clash with a straight set victory over second seed Frenchman Harold Mayot 6-4, 6-3.

Meanwhile, India went title-less at the ATP 125 Challenger as top seed N Sriram Balaji and his Austrian partner Neil Oberleitner fought hard against third seeds Arthur Reymond and Luca Sanchez before falling in two tie-breakers 6-7 (4), 6-7 (3).

The winning French duo will be up in the final against fourth-seeded Colombian-American pair Nicolas Barrientos and Benjamin Kittay, who defeated Dutch duo of Max Houkes, Niels Visker 7-6 (6), 6-3.

Dominating court

In the first singles semifinal, World No. 96 Pedro, the sole top-100 player in the tournament, displayed some top-quality tennis to entertain the Bengaluru crowd while his No. 319 opponent lacked the consistent game to match it. Saying that, 26-year-old Matteo had his moments in the game as his strong retrieval game, which was on display during his straight-set victory over Manas Dhamne the other day, troubled the 28-year-old Spaniard with a break in the sixth game.

The Frenchman surprised the charging Pedro with some brilliant winners while looking for ways to take charge of the court when the match was largely devoid of any rallies.

Matteo, however, knew he had no choice but to keep up with his big serves against a quality rival, who was aggressive on the baseline. Perhaps thinking too much about it affected his game as he started struggling with his serves exactly when he needed to hold on to it.

This allowed Pedro to pounce on his growing concerns and level the point with some excellent returns, followed by quick presumed court coverage to deliver the blow.

This certainly became the turning point of the match as Pedro, who by now was serving to the T with conviction, attacked the one-handed backhander to his left more with every intention to dominate the court as the returns were easier to control.

The gulf in class became apparent in the tie-breaker as Pedro took points quickly with his big serves while making the most of the self-doubting Frenchman, who was struggling to find rhythm in his service toss as well, to open up a three set points opportunity before closing the game on the return.

The Spaniard became a different beast in the second set as he dictated terms at will, breaking an ever-doubting Frenchman off consecutive service games while hardly breaking any sweat to take the set and match at 6-1.

In the other semifinal, ATP No. 235 Skatov continued his spotless run in the event to reach the final with another straight-set victory while seeing off Mayot (No. 167).

Aware of Mayot's left-hand wrist injury, which has restricted his backhand returns to either slices or blocks, Skatov took an aggressive route to make him uncomfortable and did just enough to break him once in each set.

Ever-fighting Mayot did come strong late in the second set looking for a break but failed to capitalise on it with the Kazakh not in the mood for any further let off.

Results: Semifinals: Singles (prefix denotes seeding): 1-Pedro Martinez (ESP) bt Martin Martineau (Fra) 7-6 (4), 6-1; 6-Timofey Skatov (Kaz) bt 2-Harold Mayot (Fra) 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles: 3-Arthur Reymond/ Luca Sanchez (Fra) bt 1-N Sriram Balaji (Ind)/ Neil Oberleitner (Aut) 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3); 4-Nicolas Barrientos (Col)/ Benjamin Kittay (USA) bt Max Houkes/ Niels Visker (Ned) 7-6 (6), 6-3.