North American ATP tournaments Feb-March 2018

[PKBasu]

Ace from Sam. Terrific forehand return winner from YB. Service winner from SQ. Stunning play from YB, 30-all. Overhits a return. 40-30. Overhits a BH. Game 2-4.

[Observer]

That was a closely fought point. Good news is that yuki held on and its 3-4 with SQ to serve.

[PKBasu]

Fabulous. 15-0. Nets a volley after good play. 15-all. Terrific serve 30-15, fabulous down the line winner, 40-15. Serve put under pressure. 40-30. YB misses a tough volley. deuce.Two terrific points. Game. 3-4.
Man, Yuki is playing some exhilarating tennis.

[Observer]

Cmmon Yuki, break him!!!!

[PKBasu]

Querrey serving solidly, 40-0, terrific return 40-15. Game. 3-5. That early break is looking costly now.
Querrey attacks net. 0-15. Fab FH. 15-all. stunning forehand 30-15. Service winner 40-15. A bit of luck from a net chord, YB takes full toll. Game. 4-5.

[Observer]

4-5 now, Last opportunity for Yuki!

[PKBasu]

17th ace. 15-0. Stunning down the line from Sam. 30-0. Drop shot from YB goes into net. 40-0. Serve out wide. Match 4-6.

Commentators acknowledge it was a high-quality match.

[Observer]

Yuki lost 6-4. I wish he had a little bit more to get over the line but really well played nonetheless

[Observer]

This performance should help Yuki's ranking. Any idea about the magnitude?

[S_K_S]

Over 9 shot rallies Yuki won only 3 as compared to 9 by SQ. Could have shown a bit more patience on the longer rallies. 30-30 points could have been a bit better too. He put up a really good performance and matched Querrey all the way. Once Querrey gets his serve going you just have to wait for the opportunity but to his credit he didn't give Yuki a look in in the 2nd and 3rd sets. Yuki didn't serve badly to get broken. He can hold his head up high for a brilliant week at Indian Wells.

Yuki perhaps looked a bit tired in the third. Maybe winning the 1st set earlier could have helped him in the long run. There were a few games towards the end there where Querrey consistently missed his first serves but in the rallies Querrey was able to get the upper hand which was frustrating. In the 1st set the difference was that Yuki was winning more rallies especially when he was focusing on the Querrey back hand. Not sure he did do less of that in the 2nd and 3rd but Querrey did certainly step up his play both serving and rally wise.

When Yuki did get broken it wasn't down to the serves. For someone serving at 100 mph I am amazed how many points he wins off his serve. As the stat about longer rallies shows a bit more patience on the rally shots and be willing to trade a bit more before pulling the trigger could help him in the tight matches.

[PKBasu]

Just heard John (or perhaps Patrick) McEnroe say he is really looking forward to seeing what Yuki Bhambri achieves through the rest of the year.
The most striking improvement in Yuki (or at least the most visible one) was his mobility and speed around the court. His stroke-making was exhilarating, but the fleetness of foot was a lot better than I’d ever seen from him. He was playing very aggressively, so he had a lot of UFEs, but that is certainly the way to play. If he can stay fit (he did have the protective pad on his elbow), Yuki is going to have a helluva year!

[Rajiv]

Close disappointing loss and in the end Querry's experience was the difference.
But pure unadulterated merit in reaching this far through the qualifiers and if he displays the same form he easily should be Top 50 after the grass court season.

Only Vijay when playing the parallel WCT circuit run by the Texan oilman Lamar Hunt has earned more in tournament play when he twice made the WCT Finals eventually losing to Borg and Scanlon and earned 50k + for his runner up spots slightly more than what Yuki has earned in this tournament.

Also good to see Yuki having a proper ASICS contract including the footwear unlike the AO where we saw a bizarre ASICS+ADIDAS combination. and this contract would go a long way in covering his travelling expenses.

[knarayen]

This was a great match from the Yukster - somebody had to win this one and he could not replicate the great returning from the first set into the second and third. Losing that service game at the start of the third was a real heartbreaker. I knew then that climbing back from that deficit against the experienced Querry was going to be difficult.

But he held the high first serve percentages - close to 60 - for most of the match. I knew this was going to be key. I think an improvement of 5% or more in that first serve percentage could have tipped the match in his favour. The commentators also noted that maybe Yuki was pulling the trigger a bit too quickly in the 3rd, but then so was Querry.

But yukis returns throughout were dazzlingly impressive. This has been the most improved part of his game over the past few months. Nothing to be ashamed of with this performance.

Go Yuki!!

Prof

[S_K_S]

Key moments that swung it on Querrey's serve were the following which just goes to how how few opportunities you get with these guys.

2nd set
0-1 with SQ serving and it's 30-30 – 40-30 - ace -t, Game - forehand xcourt is wide
Yuki had to wait till SQ was serving 5-4 up and it was 30-30 and then: 40-30 - long rally with good hitting but its Yuki wo blinks with fh xcourt into net, Game - ace

3rd set
SQ leading 1-0 with a break – and it’s 30-30 and then: 40-30 - bh xcourt is wide by YB Aaaaarrgh, Game - put away into net YB. Ouch that hurts!
SQ serving 3-2 up 30-30 and then: 40-30 - 2nd serve again, Yuki swings hard and fh goes long, hasn't played the 30-30 points well, Game - 2nd serve again but after rally Yuki's bh sails long

[PKBasu]

Yes, in the second game of the final set, he had set up a couple of points beautifully but then flubbed the final put away — twice in succession. Had he converted those, he would have broken Querrey...
But this was a much improved player from the #317 who played Murray at the AO. Very nice to watch!