Sridhar upsets Ghouse
for men's title

It was Isha Lakhani's day out as she won both the women's and girls' singles titles while Vinod Sridhar from Tamil Nadu emerged the surprise champion in the men's section, in the DSCL National Open tennis championships in Delhi on Saturday.

Isha defeated her doubles partner and seventh seed Sonal Phadke 6-3, 7-6(7/2) in the women's final and later made mincemeat of Andhra Pradesh's Sasha Abraham 6-1, 6-3 to take the girls' crown.

Isha had won the women's doubles title on Friday as well, partnering Sonal to defeat Ankita Bhambri and Radhika Tulpule 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, to make it a truly memorable week for her.

Sridhar, the men's sixth seed, too made his maiden appearance in the final a memorable one, upsetting fourth seed and favourite Mustafa Ghouse 7-6(7/4), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to clinch the men's singles title.

"This is my greatest win till date and is the sweetest one too. I was returning his serves very well and did not give him any time and space to volley. I kept the ball slow and deep giving no chance to let Ghouse play his usual game," Sridhar said after the match.

A dejected Ghouse said his game is completely dependent on how well he served and he lost mainly because of his poor serve.

"I did not serve well at all. And I messed up with the volleys. He won because of my faults," he added.

In the boys' singles final, defending champion Arun Prakash retained his hold on the title, winning 6-2, 7-6(7/5) against Chandigarh's Amanjot Singh.

Ajay Ramaswami and Shruti Dhawan won the mixed doubles title with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Sandeep Kirtane and Radhika Tulpule on Friday.