Thailand’s Weerapat Doakmaiklee and P. Perikiat Siriluethaiwattana defeated the second seeded Indian duo Saketh Myneni and R. Arun Prakash 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 to win the doubles title at the Indian Oil Servo ITF men’s Futures tennis championships here on Friday.
The Thai pair was off to an impressive start winning the first with Arun Prakash’s serve proving to be the weak link. However, in the second the momentum swung in favour of the Indian team, courtesy some impressive net play.
Also, the serves were directed wide to open up the court and they raced to a 3-0 lead. Siriluethaiwattana’s double faults at crucial junctures proved costly as Saketh and Arun Prakash bagged the second set.
The match went into a deciding tie-break and the Thai pair took it 10 to seven.
Earlier in the day, second seeded Saketh won his singles semifinal against the eighth-seeded Karunuday Singh in straight sets.
Saketh looked in great touch in the first set as he achieved an early double break. Karunuday, in his attempt to overpower Saketh, over hit forehands and lost the set 6-1.
When Saketh broke early in the second, it seemed all over for Karunuday. But, Saketh suffered a stomach problem and let Karunuday back into the match. However, it didn’t prove costly as he took the set 6-3.
Saketh will now meet the fourth-seeded Korean Suk-Young Jeong in Saturday’s final.
The results (Indians unless stated): Singles: Semifinals: Saketh Myneni bt Karunuday Singh 6-1, 6-3; Suk-Young Jeong (Kor) bt Hyun-woo Nam (Kor) 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles: Final: Weerapat Doakmaiklee (Tha) & P. Perikiat Siriluethaiwattana (Tha) bt Saketh Myneni & R. Arun Prakash 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
