BRANDON Vescio has emerged from his self-imposed exile from tennis to deliver a stunning return to the game, claiming the MIA Open men's singles title on Monday with a gutsy 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Julian Arnold.
Despite heading into the tournament unseeded, Vescio was one of the tournament's dark horses given his impressive pedigree at junior level.
But after being on the sidelines for five years in pursuit of a life free of travel and training, Vescio decided to make the most of his god-given talents, with the MIA Open his first win since his return.
"I only started playing tennis again in the past five months because I gave up for five years. I walked away when I was 12 and I came back to it at the start of the year," Vescio said.
"I was playing it that much I grew a bit stale of it and I wanted to live life like a normal teenager.
"Since then I have been improving heaps and I was reasonably confident I would do well."
Vescio played in the Australian Money Tournament in Griffith in May and did not fare so well, but he will have happier memories from the local clay courts, after disposing of Arnold.
To get to the final, Vescio produced some classic play with Griffith's Tavis Bergamin (6-0, 6-1) and top-seed Nicholas Kyrgios (7-6, 6-2) proving no match for the right-hander.
But Vescio lost his rhythm in the first set of the decider after Arnold suffered cramp and blistering on his feet.
"It did throw me off early on because I couldn't get into the game and I couldn't get any rallies going to get my eye in," Vescio said of Arnold's injury.
"But once he started to play better and got his form I started playing well and I fed off that.
Arnold broke serve twice to claim an early 3-1 lead with the score moving to 4-3 to Arnold before he changed his shoes, allowing him to close out the first set.
But Vescio jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the second as Arnold threw away cheap points with the eventual champion setting up points before looking to pull the trigger.
"I was happy with my power shots, most of the big shots went in for me because there were times where I really had to hit out and hope for the best," Vescio said.
"I was happy with my consistency as well because it's getting a lot better than what it was and I was happy with my serving consistency."
That consistency saw the match go into a third set which looked destined to be a tie-breaker with both Arnold and Vescio's serve working well to see the players locked up at 2-2 early.
But the eventual champion made his sprint for the title after holding serve well and breaking Arnold to open up a handy 4-2 buffer.
Determined not to lie down after overcoming his injury early in the game, Arnold battled back to make the game 4-3, but Vescio held serve and then broke in the last game to clinch the title.
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