The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sunil-Stephen duo wins title

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Saturday, Jun 02, 2007
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Sunil-Stephen duo wins title

Special Correspondent

Rastogi to meet Prakash in singles final

CHAMPIONS: Sunil Kumar and Stephen Amritraj, who won the doubles title in Chandigarh on Friday. — Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

CHANDIGARH: Sunil Kumar and Stephen Amritraj survived three matchpoints to beat Tushar Liberhan and Navdeep Singh 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4) in the doubles final of the SAIL $10,000 ITF men's Futures tennis tournament at the CLTA Complex here on Friday.

The singles semifinals proved rather tame much to the disappointment of the enthusiastic spectators, as top-seeded Karan Rastogi and the unseeded Prakash Amritraj cruised into the final, dropping a mere seven games between them. But it was a thriller all the way in the doubles final.

Sunil and Stephen had the experience on their side, though they were playing doubles together for the first time.

Tough match

To be fair, Tushar and Navdeep played their heart out and lost only to a superior combination. All those three matchpoints, in the 10th game of the second set, were on Sunil's serve, and the local left-hander served big and wide to see off the dangerous phase.

The local supporters were backing Sunil though they would have been equally happy had Tushar, the other local resident, been able to win his maiden doubles title in his maiden final. Incidentally, it was the 12th doubles title at this level for Sunil from 20 finals. It was a disappointment for Navdeep who had recently won back-to-back titles in Nigeria with Divij Sharan.

Earlier, Prakash Amritraj was at home on the centre-court and his usual forceful self, as he broke Punna Vishal six times on way to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph in 54 minutes.

After starting well, not dropping a single point in his first two service games, Prakash got broken in the sixth game and did have to save a breakpoint while serving out for the first set in the eighth game. He regained his touch in the second set, and dropped only three points in all on his serve.

Karan had mastered the former National champion Vijay Kannan the last time the two had met earlier in the season, winning that match for the loss of one game. He looked to be continuing from where he had left as he dropped a mere four games, as he cut through the challenge from his crafty opponent with clinical precision, serving well and stroking into the flanks with authority.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Karan Rastogi bt Vijay Kannan 6-2, 6-2; Prakash Amritraj bt Punna Vishal 6-2, 6-1. Doubles (final): Stephen Amritraj and Sunil Kumar bt Tushar Liberhan and Navdeep Singh 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).

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