Qualifier Ashutosh Singh of Delhi and wild card Ankita Raina of Gujarat emerged winners at the Vishwarupa Tubes National Grasscourt Tennis Championship at Kolkatta South Club here on Saturday.
Down in the first set, Ashutosh made a terrific comeback to upset fifth seed P.C. Vignesh of Andhra Pradesh 0—6, 7—6 (7—3), 6—2 to win the men’s singles title.
In the women’s singles final, Ankita got the better of Karnataka’s Sheethal Goutham, seeded fourth, 7—6 (7—2), 6—2.
Tamil Nadu duo of Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Mithun Murali bagged the men’s doubles title upsetting top seeded Delhi pair of Divij Sharan and Vivek Shokeen in a keenly fought encounter 6—4, 6—7 (4—7), 11—9 that lasted 107 minutes and played over two days after yesterday’s game was stopped due to bad light.
City girls Shivika Burman and Treta Bhattacharyya annexed the women’s doubles title after beating Sheethal and Sweta Solanki of Delhi 7—6 (7—2), 1—6, 10—7 in the final.
Down 0—6 in the first set, Ashutosh fought back in the second set. Both players held on to their serves with the set moving to tie—breaker which the Delhi lad took 7—3.
In the decider, Ashutosh broke Vignesh in the fourth and eighth games to clinch the issue 0—6, 7—6(7—3), 6—2.
Wild card Ankita took 105 minutes to stun her opponent from Karnataka in straight sets.
In the first set, Ankita broke Sheethal in the second game to race to a 4—1 lead. Sheethal then fought back and broke Ankita in the seventh and ninth games while conceding the eighth to level the set score. In the ninth game Ankita served two double faults at 30—40 to lose the game. But she came back strongly to take the tie—breaker 7—2.
Ankita was more careful in her shot selections in the second set and took five straight games to take a 5—0 lead.
The Gujarat girl, however, could not wrap it up as she squandered a 40—15 advantage to see her serve broken. She eventually made no mistake in the eighth to win the title.
The men’s doubles summit clash between second seed Prashanth and Murali and top seed Sharan—Shokeen was locked one—set all when play stopped due to bad light yesterday.
In the tie—breaker today, the Tamil Nadu duo won 11—9 to emerge champions.
Results (all finals)
Men’s singles:
Ashutosh Singh (Del) bt P C Vignesh (AP) 0—6, 7—6(7—3), 6—2.
Women’s singles:
Ankita Raina (Guj) bt Sheethal Goutham (Kar) 7—6 (7—2), 6—2.
Men’s doubles:
Vijay Sundar Prashant and Mithun Murali (TN) bt Divij Sharan and Vivek Shokeen (Del) 6—4, 6—7 (4—7), 11—9.
Women’s doubles:
Shivika Burman and Treta Bhattacharyya (Ben) bt Sheethal Goutham (Kar) and Shweta Solanki (Del) 7—6 (7—2), 1—6, 10—7.
