Sports News | Napolitano Wards off Hong to Clinch Bengaluru Open
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. Stefano Napolitano showed wonderful persistence to ward off ninth seed Seongchan Hong of South Korea in the final to grab his maiden Challenger title at the Bengaluru Open here on Sunday.
Bengaluru, Feb 18 (PTI) Stefano Napolitano showed wonderful persistence to ward off ninth seed Seongchan Hong of South Korea in the final to grab his maiden Challenger title at the Bengaluru Open here on Sunday.
The seventh seeded Italian won 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a match that lasted close to two hours.
Napolitano started the opening set on a sluggish note as all the exhaustion from beating second seeded Indian Sumit Nagal in a gruelling semifinal match on Saturday seemed to have caught up with him.
Though he cashed in on a couple of unforced errors from Hong to bag a break in the first game of the opening set, Napolitano could not hold his own serve in the second game.
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In the fifth game, Hong affected the crucial break when Napolitano slammed a heavy forehand from his rival into the net.
The Korean man soon successfully closed out the first set 6-4.
But Napolitano returned to his elements in the second set as he regained the direction of his serves and ground shots.
His relentlessness came to fruition in the fourth game as he established a 0-40 lead and eventually earned the vital break when Hong's forehand sailed over the baseline.
It helped Napolitano gain a 3-1 lead and from that point the Italian did not allow any chance for his opponent to claw back, winning the second set 6-3.
The third set was a mirror image of its predecessor. Napolitano gained a break in the first game itself. After engaging in a long rally at 30-40, Napolitano hammered a forehand that pitched close to baseline, and Hong failed to connect it properly as the ball flew into the stands.
Having gained an early 1-0 lead, Napolitano dictated the whole proceedings of the decider dishing out solid service games.
Another easy hold in the eighth game gave the 28-year-old a comfortable 5-3 lead and the fight seemed to have ebbed out of Hong.
Napolitano crunched a couple of exquisite forehand winners to go up 0-40, and then applied finishing touch to the match with a heavy backhand that Hong failed to retrieve.
Result (Singles, final): 7-Stefano Napolitano beat 9- Seongchan Hong 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)