Yani Defeats Wolmarans 6-4, 7-6 to Capture Singles Title

Yani with the big check

American Michael Yani battled Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) in a 6-4, 7-6(11) win to capture the LG&T singles title today. The match featured a single service break, in the first set with Wolmarans serving at 3-3 Yani broke, and that was all he needed to capture the first set 6-4.

Yani and Wolmarans take it to the net

In the second set, both players took care of their serve. The biggest threat loomed when Yani went down love-40 while serving at 5-6 giving Wolmarans 3 set points. Yani kept his composure and battled back to win the game and send the second set into a tiebreak.

The tiebreak was a see-saw battle, with Wolmarans failing to convert 3 more set point chances, eventually Yani took the tiebreak and the set 11-9.

Michael Yani winning the Challenger

Yani, 31, is currently ranked 261 in the world. This is his second Challenger win, his first was Yuba City, CA in 2008. He has also captured 5 Futures titles in his career. This is his second appearance here, having lost in the first round in 2009.

Yani, a former Duke Blue Devil, was born in Singapore and currently resides in Durham, North Carolina. In 4 years at Duke University, he accumulated a singles record of 81-27, and in 2003 was named the ACC men’s tennis player of the week. He is currently ranked 261, with a career best rank of 143 (March 2010). His career highlights include having won a qualifier spot for the US Open twice (2009, 2011) and for Wimbledon (2009). In 2011 he reached the semi-final of the Newport RI ATP event.

Fritz Wolmarans 2012 LGT Challanger Singles runner up

Wolmarans has 1 career Challenger title, the Rimouski, Canada indoor event in March 2011. He also has 5 career Futures titles and has a career best ATP ranking of 198, in May of 2011.

Summary of Finals play