NEW DELHI : Fourth seed Vijay Kannan was at his crafty best as he beat the former Asian junior champion Tai-Wei Liu of Chinese Taipei 7-5, 6-1 in the semifinals of the ITF Satellite tennis circuit third leg at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

It will be an all-Indian final for the first time in the circuit as Divij Sharan beat Ashutosh Singh with surprising ease at 6-3, 6-3 in the other semifinals.

It looked as if the 20-year-old Taipei lad would stretch Vijay when he held two setpoints on his serve in the ninth game of the first set, but the latter played a smart game to get through. Vijay dropped only one point while sweeping the next three games to wrest the initiative.

Once he had recovered ground, the 26-year-old Indian served and stroked with ease even as he kept breaking the Taipei lad's serve with contempt.

Ashutosh started well by breaking Divij in the first game, but thereafter it was the 20-year-old Divij who called the shots as Ashutosh struggled with a malfunctioning backhand.

Brimming with confidence

Having beaten the top seed Aqeel Khan in the previous round, Divij was brimming with confidence and it reflected in his game, as he retained a strong focus and stroked both with intensity and intelligence. Divij stretched for some unbelievable winners early on and thereafter broke Ashutosh four times to affix his stamp of authority in the battle between two Delhi boys who knew each other's game.

What was praiseworthy was Divij's strong serve, as he conceded only 10 points in all in his eight service games after having been broken in the first game.

He had lost to Ashutosh in their last encounter in a Futures tournament last year and it was a relief for Divij to recover his winning game that had seen him being a top-5 doubles player in the world in the junior circuit.

Champions again

In the doubles final, top-seeded Mustafa Ghouse and Pathanjali Ravishankar beat the champions of the second leg, Vijay Kannan and Ashutosh Singh 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

The Ghouse-Ravishankar duo, that had triumphed in the first leg as well, shared $393.75 and collected 15 circuit points each. The runners-up split $206.25 and pocketed 10 circuit points each.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Divij Sharan bt Ashutosh Singh 6-3, 6-3; Vijay Kannan bt Tai-Wei Liu (Tpe) 7-5, 6-1.

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