Top seeds Sunil Kumar Sipaeya and Isha Lakhani clinched the men's and women's singles titles respectively at the DSCL Open National Tennis Championships on Saturday.
Sipaeya overcame a stiff challenge from Ashutosh Singh, seeded fourth, to post a 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory in the final, while Lakhani won 6-1, 7-6 over second seed Sonal Phadke at the R K Khanna stadium in Delhi.
With neither man willing to concede a quarter, the men's final witnessed some exciting tennis.
The first set went with serve till Sipaeya broke in the ninth game, before closing it out 6-4.
In the second, Sipaeya broke Singh twice, in the first and third games, while Singh managed to break the top seed once. However, Sipaeya held on to go two sets up.
Singh played with more purpose when he converted the fifth break point to go up 2-0 in the third set. The underdog was in trouble in the fifth game when he had to save a break point. He did well to hold on to avoid a straight set loss.
However, Singh, showing signs of fatigue, was broken in the fourth game of the fourth set which enabled Sipaeya take a 3-1 lead.
The experienced campaigner did not waste much time from thereon and went on to seal the title after two hours and 45 minutes.
"I am happy to win the Nationals after a six-year break. It will do good to my confidence," said a delighted Sipaeya, who became richer by Rs 100,000.
