Oliver Marach performs rare 'trick'

Top seed Oliver Marach completed a rare hat-trick by winning third leg of the $6250 ITF Satelite tennis championship, in Pune, on Saturday.

The Austrian, who staged a grand recovery on Friday to beat Donovan September in a thriller and make the final, put an end to the dream run of hard-serving unseeded Pakistani Aisam Qureshi, winning 7-6(7-5), 6-3 in an hour and 16 minutes.

Marach had earlier won the Bombay and Nagpur legs.

Playing contrasting styles, the two players matched each other point for point in the first set. Qureshi played the serve and volley game while Maranch relied on his baseline play and waited for the opportune moment for the kill. Both held serve till 6-6 to force the set into the tie-break, where a double-fault in the eight game tunred the tide in the Austrian's favour.

After Qureshi and Maranch dropped serve on the first and third points, points went alternately till the Pakistani double falulted in on the eight point to hand the set to the Austrian.

In the second set, Marach went on the offensive from the start and held sway. A break in the fourth game sufficed to give him the set at 6-3 and with it the title.

The victory fetched him 21 circuit points and a purse of $812.50. Qureshi got $562.50 and 15 circuit points.

Marach now goes into the Masters, which commences in Bombay on March 26, as the top seed.