Tennis: Title for Karunuday as Escoffier retires

Karunuday Singh won the men's singles title when his opponent and top seed Antoine Escoffier of France retired trailing 0-3 in the first set of the final in the Mysore Minerals Ltd ITF Futures Mandya Open tennis tournament here on Saturday.

Escoffier retired with a twisted ankle after he called for the physio's help on-court to deal with the injury sustained in Friday's semi-final against Vishnu Vardhan, before deciding to pull out rather than risk further aggravating the injury.

While Karunuday was not too happy with claiming the title the way it went, he certainly was comfortable with the 18 ATP points that came with a purse for $1,440.

Escoffier accepted he could not have continued and said: "I was having problems walking on court and the pain was too much. So I decided to do what is best.

"I spoke to my coach and parents in France and will go back home and rest for a week and not take part in the Sobha ITF Mysuru Open next week."

The duo had last met in a F8 series in Chennai in 2011 with Karunuday winning the title then too. This is the Indian's third ITF title having won in Chennai and the Philippines in 2014.