MANISH SURESHKUMAR WINS MAIDEN SINGLES TITLE

Manish Sureshkumar won his maiden singles title in the professional circuit as he battled past Vladyslav Orlov of Ukraine 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-1 in the final of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament in Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Manish, however, lost the doubles final in partnership with Mohit Mayur. The 18-year-old Manish had already won a doubles title in the ITF circuit in Bhubaneswar in February with Sidharth Rawat.

It was the second singles final in the three week circuit in Colombo for Manish, who had made the semifinals in the second event.

‘’I did not expect to win the title, and was only looking to play solid tennis. I am very happy as this title means a lot. I got used to the court conditions well. I like playing on synthetic surface, but it looks like I am better off on clay ’’, said Manish who kept improving with every match on clay over three weeks.

Manish, who has been training with coach Suresh Kumar Sonachalam from childhood, said that he had trained hard for three weeks after having a ‘’bad phase in Egypt’’.

In the ITF women's event in Portugal, Zeel Desai overcame a tough start to beat Jacqueline Cabaj Awad of Sweden in the semifinals. She, however, lost the doubles final in partnership with Cristine Ene of Romania.

The results:

$15,000 ITF men, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Singles (final): Manish Sureshkumar bt Vladyslav Orlov (Ukr) 7-6(5), 0-6, 6-1.

Doubles (final): Jirat Navasirisomboon & Chanchai Sookton-Eng (Tha) bt Mohit Mayur & Manish Sureshkumar 6-2, 6-4.

$15,000 ITF women, Guimaraes, Portugal
Singles (semifinals): Zeel Desai bt Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles (final): Karola Patricia Bejenaru (Rou) & Jacqueline Cabaj Awad (Swe) bt Cristina Ene (Rou) & Zeel Desai 6-1, 6-0.