Harsh Mankad wins
US collegiate title

Indian Davis Cupper Harsh Mankad won the singles titles at the Omni Hotels National inter-collegiate indoor championships at the Brookhaven Country Club, Farmers Branch, Texas.

Harsh, playing for University of Minnesota and unseeded in the tournament, defeated Baylor University's Benjamin Becker of Germany after a strong recovery 6-7(5-7), 6-0, 7-6(7-2) to win the trophy.

The Indian added his name to the list of US college tennis stalwarts like Todd Martin, James Blake, Sargis Sargsian, Malivai Washington, Jeff Salzenstein, Paul Annacone -- who had won the collegiate indoor nationals, one of four such nationals every year, a leg of what is called the collegiate Grand Slams (the others being on clay and hardcourts, followed by the final NCAA nationals next June).

This is only the third time in tournament history that two unseeded players reached the men's singles final. Mankad improved his college record to 12-1 this season with the win and became the first player from the Big-10 conference since Todd Martin of Northwestern University in 1991, to win the college indoor nationals. He is also the first player from the University of Minnesota to win the title.

In June, Mankad had won his first professional title at the $10,000 Canada F1 satellite tournament, defeating Lazar Magdincev of Macedonia 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5. It was the first pro title win by an Indian outside of the Indian sub-continent after Leander Paes's win in Newport in July 1998.

Baylor's Becker was looking to become the first player from a Texas school to win the US tournament since TCU's David Pate in 1982.

In the first set, Becker raced to a quick 4-1 lead, only to see Mankad win five straight games and force the tie-breaker. In the tie-breaker, Becker led 5-2 but allowed the lead to slip to 5-5 before winning the last two points.

Mankad needed only 18 minutes to take the second set 6-0.

In the third, both players exchanged breaks in the opening two games, then both held serve the remainder of the way to force the tie-breaker. Mankad jumped out to a 6-1 lead thanks to two Becker double-faults in the tie-break.

Both players had upsets on their way to the final. Harsh upset the third and sixth seeds, while Becker did not drop a set in his previous four matches and had upset wins against the second and fifth seeds.

Harsh will move up from his current No. 22 national singles ranking to a top 5 college ranking when they come out next.

He is done with the fall season of tennis and is hoping to put in some focused physical training for the next few weeks. He would like to go to India and play qualifiers at the Chennai Open.

Harsh, who turned 22 on Friday, said in his press comments after the semi-final, that playing against those like Roddick and Blake in the Davis Cup and practising with the Indian Davis Cup team have given him a big confidence boost.

"Coming into the tournament I was unseeded, so I didn't know what to expect," said Mankad after winning the title and added, "But everything seemed to click for me this week and it will do a lot for my confidence for the rest of this season."

Mankad defeated Jean Simon of Texas 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals, after defeating the sixth seeded Klementz of Middle Tennessee 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. Earlier, he had defeated Marcin Matkowski of UCLA 6-4, 7-6(5) in the second round and third seed Oliver Maiberger, San Diego State, 7-5, 6-1 in the first.