Dahan wins singles title

Top seed Lior Dahan of Israel displayed some outstanding tennis to oust second seed and compatriot Eyal Elrich 7-6(7-4), 7-6(9-7) and win the singles title in the ITF Futures Tennis Tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana courts in Pune on Saturday.

The doubles crown was claimed by the Indian pair of Prahlad Srinath and Ajay Ramaswamy.

Dahan scraped past the challenge posed by Elrich in two hours and seven minutes despite the latter taking the first game at love.

Dahan then served impressively to level the scores and broke Elrich in the fifth game to take the 3-2 lead.

Elrich played exceptionally well from the baseline to break Dahan in the eighth game to bring the match at level again. Both players held on to their serves till 6-6 as the set went into tie-break.

The left-handed Dahan, who was ranked 180th in the world about six months back, hit angled serves and excellent forehands down the line to take the tie-break and the first set in one hour and 15 minutes.

The second set also went into tie-break with both players breaking each other thrice. However, Dahan was a bit lucky to survive some crucial moments before romping home with the match and the title.

Prahlad Srinath and Ajay Ramaswamy won their third consecutive doubles title outclassing the Israeli pair of Lior Dahan and Eyal Elrich 6-7(7-1), 6-4, 6-2.