Dev Javia with the title
The 24-year-old Dev, who had jumped 32 places after winning his maiden ITF singles title to improve his ranking to 1139 on the ATP charts, won the semi-final after his opponent from Northern Ireland Conor Gannon, seeded sixth, retired while trailing 5-7, 3-4. He will play counterpart Chirag Duhan, who defeated unseeded American Jake Fellows 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5. The duo lost 6-3, 4-6, 15-17.
Dev and Chirag, who played as a pair in the doubles, had bowed out in the first round after losing a thriller to third seeds Ivan Gretskiy of Russia and Kerem Yilmaz of Turkey.
Reflecting on the semi-final‘s result, the 24-year-old said, “I’m happy with my performance. So, at 5-6 in the first set at important moments, I made some good solid returns which helped me win the first set. It was a tough match. Again, I was mentally composed, kept things very simple during the match and stuck to my plans. I think his strength was his serve and his forehand. After this, I felt much better with my returns for the second set. ”
Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad-based tennis player Dev Javia continued his winning run by reaching the second consecutive singles final in two weeks at the ITF M$15k tennis tournament in Hurghada, Egypt on Saturday.