Velavan Senthilkumar wins maiden PSA title

India's Velavan Senthilkumar, a qualifier, capped his strong run in the Madison Open in the USA, beating South Africa's Tristan Eysele in the final to win his maiden PSA World Tour title.

The 20-year old, a former British Junior Open winner and Asian junior champion, defeated fourth-seed Eysele 7-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-4 in the 57-minute final on Sunday, a press note here said.

Senthilkumar during his giant-killing run, upset No.3 seed Bernat Jaume (Spain) in the first round and sixth-seed Mark Fuller of England in the quarterfinals before beating compatriot Aditya Jagtap, who had shocked the No.2 seed in the opening round.

The world No.255 had previously featured in two finals of PSA events, but broke through at Edison with a hard-fought win over Eysele.

After failing to come through the qualifying draw in the previous tournament (the Rochester ProAm PSA event), the Indian left-hander found his touch in Edison and came up trumps against higher-ranked players.