Ishaque Eqbal beats Suraj Prabodh for title

Second seed Ishaque Eqbal overcame a sluggish start to beat Suraj Prabodh 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Rs.250,000 AITA men’s ranking tennis tournament at the Harvest Tennis Academy in Jassowal on Friday.

It was a bit of an anticlimax for Suraj, who is a trainee at the Academy and has been winning titles in the domestic circuit. He had done the hard work along the way, beating fellow trainee and former national champion Dalwinder Singh, and the top seed Kunal Anand, without dropping a set.

Eqbal has been getting better with his doubles, but showed that he can negotiate the singles court confidently with his strong fitness and sensible game.

Incidentally, it was a double crown for Ishaque as he had won the doubles earlier with Mohit Mayur.

The Director of Harvest Campus, Ms. Harshita Nagar, and the head coach Strahinja Jovanovic of Serbia, presented the prizes.

The champion was presented Rs.31,250 and the runner-up, Rs.21,000.

The results (final): Ishaque Eqbal bt Suraj Prabodh 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)