Calcutta: James Duckworth hails from Brisbane and is used to the heat and humidity. Yet, it was he who struggled with the conditions as Radu Albot waltzed past the top seed to emerge champion at the Emami Kolkata Open ATP Challenger here, at the BTA courts, on Saturday.
The scoreline read 7-6 (7-0), 6-1 in favour of the Moldovan who took an hour and 37 minutes to wrap up the final against the top seed.
All Albot did was to exploit his opponent's struggle, which only became worse in the second set. Such was James's condition that he even found it difficult to stand inside the court, forget rallying for points. Albot made full use of it, keeping the rallies long to make it tougher and tougher for James.
Citing dizziness as the reason, James also pulled out of the doubles final, with Somdev Dev Varman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan getting a walkover and winning the crown.
The result in the decider certainly comes as a surprise, considering how James had been playing till the semi-finals. Not much was read into his losing the opening set, as he had got off to slow starts in the previous matches. But in Saturday's final, he just didn't get going. And it was more of a free run for Albot as the match progressed.
Albot could have made the game more one-sided had he not lost his serve when leading 5-4 and serving for the first set. Drawing level at 5-5, and holding his serve to regain the lead, James looked to be getting his rhythm back.
But in the tie-breaker, Albot made him look completely out of sorts, winning all the seven points to win the first set.
While unforced errors were committed by both players, there were just too many from James. All said and done, no credit can be taken away from the sixth seed as he unleashed quite a few winners, especially with his forehand, when it really mattered.
Practising in Thailand for a month had proved beneficial for Albot. "It was pretty hot out there... Conditions weren't easy at all... But training in Thailand for a month helped me adjust well with the conditions," he said later.
