Banthia-Donski lift Delhi Open doubles title; Crawford to face Sakellaridis in singles final

Top seeds Siddhant Banthia of India and Alexander Donski of Bulgaria saved a match point to clinch the doubles crown at the Delhi Open, prevailing in a tense summit clash here on Saturday.
In the singles draw, fifth seed Oliver Crawford of Great Britain and unseeded Stefanos Sakellaridis of Greece set up a title clash at the DLTA Complex.
Banthia and Donski went down 4-6 in the opening set against the second-seeded pair of Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha (India) and Pruchya Isaro (Indonesia) but bounced back to take the second set by the same scoreline. The third set tie-break proved to be a tense affair. At 10-10, both teams had saved one match point each before Banthia and Donski sealed the contest 4-6, 6-4, 12-10 to clinch the title. The victory marked Banthia’s second career ATP Challenger doubles title — both won alongside Donski — while it was Donski’s third ATP Challenger doubles crown.
Banthia added: “I trust in Alex as much as he does in me and that was the key to stay with each other because we knew the match was going to be tough and hanging in there at the crucial moments and I thought we did exceptional whenever the points mattered.”
Banthia and Donski earned 75 ranking points and a prize money cheque of USD 4,980, while Poonacha/Isaro gained 50 ranking points and a prize money cheque of USD 2,880.
The doubles semi-finals took place earlier in the day where Banthia and Donski defeated the British-Belgian pair of Jay Clarke and Michael Geerts 7-6(6), 7-6(3), while Poonacha and Isaro overcame the Korean-Finnish duo of JiSung Nam and Patrik Niklas-Salminen 7-6(3), 6-4.
This was the third time an Indian player has lifted the doubles trophy at the Delhi Open. Saketh Myneni/Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri/Mahesh Bhupathi had won the title in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In the singles competition, Crawford progressed to the final after defeating second seed Rei Sakamoto of Japan 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes.
The 26-year-old Brit, ranked No. 215 in the world, secured a crucial break in the 10th game of the first set to convert his fourth set point. He added another break in the fourth game of the second set and held firm to close out the match. Crawford converted two of eight break-point opportunities and saved both break points on his serve.
In the other semi-final, Sakellaridis registered a straight sets win over Felix Gill.
The Greek dominated the opening set before a closely contested second set, which featured no break points and was decided in a tie-break. Gill saved three match points in the tie-break, but Sakellaridis converted his fourth to seal the 6-1, 7-6 victory in one hour and 31 minutes.
The 21-year-old, ranked No. 275 in the world, saved the only break point he faced and converted three of five opportunities on Gill’s serve.