Michael Shabaz ended German qualifier Torsten Wietoska run in the final to clinch the ITF Belgaum Open at the VTU Tennis Complex here on Saturday.
Though Shabaz ran away with the opening set while blanking his opponent in just 30 minutes, Wietoska put up an admirable fight in the second before the American wrapped up the match 6-0, 7-6 (3).
Long rallies and some hard hitting by both the players made for an interesting first set, though Shabaz never let go the grip.
Having learnt a lesson or two, Torsten started playing much better in the second set.
Torsten looked to get the set with a splendid down the line pass on his backhand to go up 15-0 on the 12th game on Shabaz’s serve being up 6-5. But Shabaz came up with big serves to win the next three points and followed up with volleys to keep the game.
In the tie-break, Torsten broke Shabaz in the very first point but let go the lead in the next. At 3-3 in the tie break, Shabaz got more aggressive and subdued Torsten a bit to take the set and the match in 1 hr 20 min.
Having bagged the second title of the year, Shabaz said: “This is heartening for me as I have come back after a long duration of sickness. Wietoska played well and pushed me to play better and I wish him the best for his future. The three weeks in Karnataka have been good for me to end with this title at Belgaum.”
It was also the end of a three week ITF Futures circuit in Karnataka.