Prajnesh Gunneswaran lost out narrowly in the final of the $25,000 ITF Chinese tournament held in Shenzhen on Sunday. Unseeded Chinese player Zhizhen Zhang won the title 2-6, 7-5, 5-0 in an hour and 53 minutes after the Indian No 3 retired after trailing his opponent by five games in the deciding set.
During the match, it was the third seeded Indian who took the lead in the match securing two service breaks on Zhang’s serve. Moreover, the southpaw didn’t face a single break point on his serve throughout the set. As compared to the first set, the momentum kept shifting between the two finalists, before the lower-ranked player capitalised with a third break of serve on Gunneswaran’s serve to level the match. The final set, meanwhile, went entirely Zhang’s way and featured two service breaks on the Indian’s serve before the 27-year-old halted the match citing his inability to continue.
Sumit Nagal wins in Sri Lanka
Earlier on Saturday, Sumit Nagal claimed his second ITF Futures title for the 2017 season at the $15,000 Sri Lanka tournament in Colombo. Nagal, who was the tournament top-seed, won 6-1, 6-1 against the second seeded Carlos Boluda-Purkiss of Spain in a match that lasted 75 minutes.
In the same tournament, the Indo-American team of Ankit Chopra and Hady Habib claimed the title by beating the top-seeded Indian pair of Chandril and Lakshit Sood, 2-6, 7-5, 10-8.
Kanika Vaidya clinches doubles win
Lastly, in the $15,000 women’s ITF Pro Circuit tournament in Sharm el Sheikh, the Indo-Russian team of Kanika Vaidya and Angelina Zhuravleva won the doubles title on Saturday. The pair beat the Italian team of Verena Hofer and Francesca Sella in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.
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