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Amritraj triumphs

June 21, 2003 19:38 IST

Displaying superb all-round tennis, top seed Prakash Amritraj annexed the third-leg of the Gail-ITF Satellite tournament, defeating Indonesia's Prima Simpatiaji 6-2, 6-4 in the final at the DLTA courts in Delhi on Saturday.

This was Amritraj's second successive ITF title, having won the second-leg, beating Vijay Kannan in Chandigarh last Saturday.

The US-based Amritraj thus completed a grand double, having won the doubles title, partnering cousin Stephen Amritraj on Friday. The duo beat the third seeded pair of Manoj Mahadevan and Rishi Sridhar 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

The 20-year-old, who did not lose a set coming to the final, reigned supreme by serving a series of aces, hitting cross court winners and powerful ground strokes that left the Indonesian a mere spectator for most part of the match.

Amritraj was in song from the very word go and served deep to the disomfort of his opponent, who was pushed into commiting umpteen unforced errors.

Simpatiaji just could not get going and was broken in the third and fifth games of the first set.

Serving at 5-2, Amritraj played some scintillating shots to hold on serve and take the first set 6-2 in just 32 minutes.

The Indonesian put up some resistance in the second set, held serve and lifted his overall game, but simply could not match the superior Amritraj in terms of rallies or short points. He managed to hold till the fourth game, but costly unforced errors cost him a break in the fifth game. Amritraj proceded to win the remaining game without much fuss.

After winning the match, a visibly happy Amritraj said he is happy to win the tournament. Saying he would love to play in the Indian tennis circuit, he added he is looking forward to the Mastsers beginning on Monday

UNI


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