JOIN USSridhar ends rough run
Tamil Nadu’s Vinod Sridhar came from behind to outwit old warhorse Nitin Kirtane of Railways 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-0 to clinch the AITA Pro Circuit championship at the KSLTA Stadium here on Saturday.
Sridhar was delighted with his triumph that came after a seven-year hiatus. “The last time I played a tournament was way back in 2005, so to come back and win a title is a nice feeling,’’ the 32-year-old from Chennai added.
Sridhar started the match breaking Kirtane’s serve in the first game and the latter bounced back to break the former’s serve in the second. Kirtane held serve in the third game while Sridhar made it 2-2 in the fourth. Sridhar upped the ante in the fifth as he brought up the third service break of the set to take a 3-2 lead.
The Chennai man’s fluent backhand and impressive netplay gave him the edge in crucial points. But Kirtane bounced back to break Sridhar in the sixth game to level at 3-3.
Games then went with serve leading to a tie-breaker. Kirtane showed great control of nerves to come through 7-3 in the tie-break and claimed the first set 7-6.
In the second set, Sridhar had to dig deep and find his game to stay alive in the contest. But Kirtane broke Sridhar’s serve twice and held his own to race to a 4-1 lead. However, Sridhar launched a superb comeback thereafter as he broke the Pune man’s serve four times to claim the set at 7-5.
The deciding set turned out to be an anti-climax as a tiring Kirtane made things easy for Sridhar. The game got over in a hurry as Sridhar was crowned champion pocketing the set 6-0.
Result (both finals): Men’s singles: Vinod Sridhar bt Nitin Kirtane 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-0.
Doubles: Elvin Anthony/ Tariq Jacob bt Nitin Kirtane/ Saurav Sukul 6-3, 6-2.