Yuki Bhambri

[sameerph]

Yes, this is as tough a match that one can get at a challenger level for Yuki coming back after a month's break. Yuki is 1-2 against Nishioka in head to head with loss at Asiad singles SF in 2014, win in AO in qualifying and loss in US open qualifying - both in 2015. Nishioka won the title last week at Gimcheon beating 2 top 100 players- Vasek Posipisil and Jordan Thompson. So, I too would make Nishioka slight favourite in this match.

At $150(+H) Busan Challenger, Korea

[R1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,94) vs. (SE) Yohishito Nishioka (JPN,262)

Yuki has fallen 8 places in the rankings this week with his Karshi challenger points falling off.

[PKBasu]

Yes, this is a ridiculously difficult match first up for the second seed. Nishioka was a rising star in his late-teens and early-20s until his (injury-driven?) break recently. He reached a career-high of 58 in March 2017 before this break.
Nishioka is on a rapid comeback trail, having won the title in Gimcheon last week. It was really foolish of Yuki not to have played in Gimcheon.
Nonetheless, given the pattern of recent weeks, the winner of the previous week's Challenger should be too fatigued to keep winning in the next week. If Yuki has been working on his game, and has been honing it, there is no reason why Yuki shouldn't win this (effectively causing an upset, as far as this forum is concerned, but merely keeping to his seeding). Go Yuki!

[sameerph]

Yuki lost the first set 3-6 against Nishioka. 1 break of serve for Nishioka whereas Yuki could not convert any of the 3 breakpoints he got. Not on the streamed court, so will have to only follow scores.

[sameerph]

Yuki was down an early break in second set too but broke back and now leads 3-2 in the second set on serve.
And Yuki breaks again for 4-2.

[sameerph]

Damn, Yuki served for the second set at 5-3 but gets broken at 30 and it is back on serve with Nishioka serving at 4-5.

Nishioka was taken to deuce but holds for 5-5.

Yuki saved 3 breakpoints and held for 6-5.

Nishioka holds at 30 to take this to a tie break.

In the tie break, Yuki was twice down a mini break, came back to have a set point on his own serve at 6-5 which he missed but won the next 2 points to take the tie break 7-6(6).

[PKBasu]

Yuki missed his first set point on his own serve (at 6-5 in the tiebreak), but has just clinched the second set 7-6(6).

[jayakris]

Yuki was a down a mini at 2-4, but won 4 of the next 5 points for a 6-5 set point. Nishioka saved one one Yuki's serve but Yuki won the next two to win the set. Good job winning 6 of 8 points in the end there. On to the third set after 1 hour 35 minutes... 3-6, 6-7(6), 0-0

[PKBasu]

Barely holding on there, but Yuki came through in the end with a minibreak when it mattered (with Nishioka serving at 6-7 in the 2nd set TB).

[jayakris]

Yeah, this is a dogfight, basically. Neither of them able to dominate the other, based on the scoreboard. 74 points to YN and 71 points to YB after two sets. Wish we had a live stream. I hope Yuiki has more left in the tank for the third set....

After wasting three BPs from 30-40, finally Yuki broke YN on the third Ad-out point. 1-0 up a break in the third.
Two aces but two DFs too, by YB. He saved two BPS and held though. 36 76(6) 20
YB has YN down 0-40 and he converts the second BP!!... 3-0 and Yuki serving.

And Nishioka retires.... Just not easy to keep winning. Yuki wins!!!!

At the $150(+H) Busan Challenger, Korea

[R1] (2) Yuki Bhambri (IND,94) d. (SE) Yohishito Nishioka (JPN,262), 36 76(6) 30 Ret.

He plays the winner of Ze Zhang (CHN) vs Dayne Kelly (AUS), a match that is just got underway.

[PKBasu]

I started following at 2-4 in the tiebreaker actually. (Was commenting on the Karnataka election results and their impact on markets at Bloomberg TV India earlier). Looks like I brought Yuki luck

[PKBasu]

Yes, this is a ridiculously difficult match first up for the second seed. Nishioka was a rising star in his late-teens and early-20s until his (injury-driven?) break recently. He reached a career-high of 58 in March 2017 before this break.
Nishioka is on a rapid comeback trail, having won the title in Gimcheon last week. It was really foolish of Yuki not to have played in Gimcheon.
Nonetheless, given the pattern of recent weeks, the winner of the previous week's Challenger should be too fatigued to keep winning in the next week. If Yuki has been working on his game, and has been honing it, there is no reason why Yuki shouldn't win this (effectively causing an upset, as far as this forum is concerned, but merely keeping to his seeding). Go Yuki!

Pretty good prediction too...!

[jayakris]

Yep. You should predict the Karnataka election results too ....

[PKBasu]

So Yuki's gamble of not playing the Gimcheon Challenger (for a gamble it surely was) has paid off perfectly. He drew the toughest possible R1 opponent, lost a set, narrowly won the second set in a tiebreaker, but the draw now opens up for him.

[PKBasu]

Yep. You should predict the Karnataka election results too ....

I'm actually on a bit of a roll here . I predicted a BJP win in Karnataka (as part of the research I publish for financial market participants), but that wasn't too difficult to do, since at least two exit polls (including the most reliable one, by Chanakya) predicted it too.

But I may have been the only person in the world who got the Malaysia election result right. (I predicted 120 seats for the opposition alliance; it got 122!). It was widely expected (even by professional pollsters in Malaysia) that the ruling alliance would win again. (I first said the opposition would win a year ago...).

(But I never predicted the 2004 election upset in India...!).

[jayakris]

Oh, I hadn't checked, to know that the KAR election results were coming out. That's pretty good, but I bet you never predicted the Trump win in the US either...

So Yuki's gamble of not playing the Gimcheon Challenger (for a gamble it surely was) has paid off perfectly.

Plus he got one more week of rest. I think he has really learned to take proper long breaks, not pushing his body too much.