JOIN US Heat and humidity took a toll on James Duckworth as the Aussie top seed handed the men’s singles crown to Moldova’s Radu Albot, losing the summit clash of the Kolkata Open 6-7(0), 1-6 here on Saturday.
The Aussie world number 111, who was in line for a double, pulled out of the doubles citing dizziness to hand Indian duo of Somdev Devvarman and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan the title.
Duckworth put up some challenge in the opening set before surrendering in the tie-breaker and started to suffer cramps in the second as the sixth seed Albot secured his first title of this season.
Hailing from the landlocked country in eastern Europe, Albot looked strong from the very beginning as he went for big shots and refused to donate any free points to Duckworth. Albot broke the Aussie in the fifth game as he went ahead with a 4-2 lead in the opening set.
Thereafter Albot failed to keep the pace as he dropped his serve at 5-4 with some baseline errors and a double fault.
In the tie breaker, where it was a one-sided affair as 23-year-old looked in pain and could not add anything to the score. In the second, Duckworth while serving at 1-2 played eight deuces before dropping the serve. Albot was leading 4-1. Serving at 5-1, Albot consolidated the breaks and wrapped the match.
Results (all finals) men’s singles: Radu Albot (Mda) bt James Duckworth (Aus) 7-6(0), 6-1.
Men’s doubles: Somdev Devvarman/Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan w/o James Duckworth/Luke Saville (Aus).