Taiwanese top seed sets up final with Chinese young gun
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Taiwanese top seed Chen Ti outlasted India’s N Sriram Balaji 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 to set up a final against Chinese teen Sun Fajing in the US$10,000 ITF Thailand Men’s Futures 1 at the True Arena Hua Hin yesterday.
Chen, No 256, blew a 4-1 lead in the first set before regrouping to win the tie-break after one hour and 10 minutes. The 32-year-old Taiwanese managed a crucial break in the seventh game of the second set to lead 4-3 and went on to wrap up the encounter after two hours and five minutes.
“Balaji has big serves and a strong backhand. In the first set we both fought really hard. In the second I kept moving him around and he got tired,” said Chen who improved his head-to-head record over the Indian to 4-0.
The Taiwanese reached his fourth final this year and will be hoping to add to his single title won so far. He will play 19-year-old Sun at 10am today for his fifth Futures overall title in Thailand after lifting two wins in 2008 and two in 2014.
“He’s a player from the new generation. I have more experience than he does, but each day is different and I have to be prepared for the conditions,” said Chen, who later teamed up with American John Paul Fruttero to beat Chung Yunseong of South Korean and Gao Xin of China 6-2 6-2 for the doubles title.
In the singles semis, No 603 Sun relied on his solid baseline game to beat Chung 6-4 6-3.
“I was playing well today but so he was. He hit the ball hard but I pushed him to the limit and he made mistakes,” said the 19-year-old, who is into his debut Futures final.
“It’s great to reach my first final but I have to think of it as just another normal match. If I look at it as the final, I might get distracted. I have a tough opponent waiting and I need to concentrate on that,” said the teenager.
