The Hindu : Sport : Ashutosh Singh takes title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 06, 2007
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Sport

Ashutosh Singh takes title

Kamesh Srinivasan

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

PROUD WINNERS: Maharashtra’s Isha Lakhani and Delhi’s Ashutosh Singh won the women’s and men’s titles respectively.

NEW DELHI: Ashutosh Singh had been working on his all-round game with such intensity that it was not a surprise that he beat the talented Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 7-6(4) for the men’s title in the DSCL National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

However, the 17-year-old Prajnesh brushed aside the disappointment to race to the title in the junior section in the afternoon, as he beat the top-seeded Vijayant Malik 6-3, 6-2.

The top-seeded Isha Lakhani was able to assert herself after an indifferent start against the second-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthi, beating her 6-3, 6-1 for a hat-trick of national singles titles. In fact, it is her fourth title, with the first one having come in 2002.

Kelsey Sundaram took a step forward by clinching the junior girl’s title, to wipe away the memories of losing to Kyra Shroff in the final last year.

“It was a tough match. I’m happy with the way I served,” he said.

The key to the contest was in Ashutosh winning an early break, and serving well. He was plagued by a few double-faults. But, he had to go for the big serves to dictate terms and he did so with considerable authority.

The match was decided on that one break in the third game of the first set, as Ashutosh handled the tie-break in the second set with assurance. Prajnesh did get a bad call on the fourth point in the tie-break, but there was no doubting the fact that Ashutosh was clearly the better player.

At 5-4 in the tie-break, Ashutosh came up with a service winner and knotted up his opponent on the next point with a crafty slice which Prajnesh could only slap into the net.

“I hope to carry this form into the Futures circuit,” said Ashutosh, who gets a wild card for the first Challenger to be staged at the same venue next month.

Before that, Ashutosh has two Futures events at home and two more in Pakistan to collect invaluable ATP points.

Prajnesh will be rewarded with a wild card for the second Challenger in Delhi.

A slight change in the programme that saw him play the men’s event first, as against playing the juniors’ first through the week, possibly upset Prajnesh’s calculations. He could not come out firing for the men’s final, but there was no doubt in anyones mind that the stylish left-hander is a bright prospect with the hunger for success.

The results (finals): Men: Ashutosh Singh bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 7-6(4). Under-18 boys: Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Vijayant Malik 6-3, 6-2.

Women: Isha Lakhani bt Rushmi Chakravarthi 6-3, 6-1. Under-18 girls: Kelsey Sundaram bt Tanvi Shah 7-5, 6-4.

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