The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ashutosh-Mankad wins doubles title

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Sport - Tennis

Ashutosh-Mankad wins doubles title

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Harsh Mankad and Ashutosh Singh put up a spirited performance to beat the top-seeded Brendan Evans of the US and Mustafa Ghouse 7-5, 6-3 in the doubles final of the Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

On a bright afternoon, local lad Ashutosh, enjoying a lot of vociferous support and Mankad, playing with a soft but sure touch, combined well to win their maiden title as a pair.

After Mankad had dropped serve in the seventh game of the first set, the Indian duo saved a set point in the tenth, as Evans doublefaulted at 40-30.

He went on to lose serve after Ghouse buried a volley into the net at deuce. Ashutosh and Mankad broke Ghouse in the 12th game to take the set.

Into the second set, Evans dropped serve in the sixth game and that proved decisive. The Indian pair then fought back from 0-40 on Mankad’s serve, dashing the hopes of a revival for the top seeds.

Ashutosh then served the match out at love.

Lu to meet Soeda

Top-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei made his fourth successive Challenger final outplaying Guillermo Alcaide of Spain in straight sets.

Lu will be challenged by the fourth-seeded Go Soeda of Japan, who beat Alexandre Kudryavtsev of Russia 7-6(5), 6-3. The seventh-seeded Kudryavtsev put a backhand wide to be on par at 5-5 in the first set tie-break.

Annoyed by the bad shot the Russian smashed the ball out of sight and was slapped a point penalty as he had been warned before for ball abuse by the chair umpire. That saw the Russian lose two points in one stroke, and the Japanese converted the set point with an ace.

Soeda was more assertive in the second set, as he broke Kudryavtsev in the third and ninth games.

The results: Singles (semifinals): Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) bt Guillermo Alcaide (Esp) 6-4, 6-3; Go Soeda (Jpn) bt Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) 7-6(5), 6-3. Doubles (final): Harsh Mankad & Ashutosh Singh bt Brendan Evans (US) & Mustafa Ghouse 7-5, 6-3.