ITF tennis: Balaji to clash with Espasandin for title

Chennai: India's Sriram Balaji and Swiss Joss Espasandin entered the singles final of the MCC-SR Subramaniam Memorial ITF Men's Futures tennis tournament with contrasting victories here Friday.

Fifth seeded Balaji was stretched by Dutchman Mark Vervoot before winning 6-3, 1-6, 6-2, while Espasandin knocked out third seed Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan 6-4, 6-4, in the semi-finals.

In the doubles finals Vivek Shokeen and Rupesh Roy proved too good for Abhijeet Tiwari and Ashwin Vijayragavan and won 6-2, 6-4.

Balaji dominated the first set to win it 6-3. In the second, he created rough weather for himself by playing lacklustre tennis and allowed Vervoot to level at one set all. In the final set, Balaji was at his aggressive best and won in a canter.

The second semi-finals witnessed tennis of much higher quality. Espasandin broke Ranjeet at 2-1 in the first set and then served strongly throughout to hold serve and win the set 6-4.

The second set followed a similar pattern. Though Ranjeet raised his game, Espasandin was up to the task. The Swiss served strongly and stroked beautifully. In particular, his down the line backhands were a class apart.

Espasandin finished off the match in style by hitting glorious backhand winners and gave himself a wonderful birthday present of reaching the final. (IANS)