Double tennis crown for Balaji

Top seed N. Sriram Balaji completed a fine double as he outlasted Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-0 in the singles final and the duo later paired to annex the doubles title in the BR Adityan-GNC ITF Men's Futures tennis tournament here Saturday.

Balaji and Jeevan overcame Arun Prakash Rajgopal and his South African partner Keith Patrick Crowley 6-2, 6-7(6), 10-5, in the doubles final.

Balaji and Jeevan, who train at the Schuttler Waske Tennis University in Germany, played attacking and positive tennis. After being level at 3-3, the two traded service breaks as the set moved to a tiebreak. Balaji took an early 4-1 lead only to concede it as Jeevan came back strongly to clinch the tie-break 8-6.

However, as the match progressed, Jeevan's serve became inconsistent and was broken in the fifth game of the second set that Balaji clinched at 6-4.

In the deciding third set, it was Balaji all the way as Jeevan failed to win even a single service game.

Balaji received Rs.80,000 and 18 ATP points for his singles effort and Jeevan picked up Rs.47,000 and 10 ATP points.