The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Divij enters Masters final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 01, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Divij enters Masters final

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Divij Sharan finished runner-up in the ITF Satellite tennis circuit as he beat Navdeep Singh 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Masters event here on Thursday.

The 20-year-old local lad bounced back from a slow start to scotch the hopes of his doubles partner who could not sustain his energetic play after wrapping up the first set with an ace.

The champion of the third leg, Divij has already assured himself of 30 ATP points including four bonus points for finishing second in the circuit.

In the final, he will be up against the top seed and champion of the circuit, Aqeel Khan of Pakistan.

Aqeel recovered from being precariously close to elimination, when he faced a breakpoint at 2-4 in the second set after having lost the first, to outplay Aditya Madkekar in three sets.

Aqeel in partnership with Punna Vishal beat Divij and Navdeep in the doubles final, rather comfortably.

However, that did not prevent Divij and Navdeep from finishing runner-up in the circuit to Mustafa Ghouse and Pathanjali Ravishankar. Divij and Navdeep needed a victory in the final to win the circuit.

Divij and Navdeep finished the circuit with 35 ATP points including a bonus of four ATP points, while Mustafa and Pathanjali collected 43 ATP points each including a bonus of eight points.

The Masters doubles winners Aqeel and Punna had to be content with 26 ATP points each.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt Aditya Madkekar 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Divij Sharan bt Navdeep Singh 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles (final): Aqeel Khan (Pak) and Punna Vishal bt Divij Sharan and Navdeep Singh 6-3, 6-4.

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