Harsh, Rushmi triumph

Mankad stamped his authority in the match by not dropping his serve even once and breaking Natekar in the final game of the first set and in the second and sixth of the final.

Only on one occasion Natekar had the opportunity to break Mankad 8212; in the final game. But the third seed saved three break points before Natekar hit a return long to end the match after 88 minutes of lop-sided tennis.

Agreeing that it was the biggest win of his career, Mankad said: 8220;I think that the key to today8217;s game was my service. I held it throughout and that put a lot of pressure on Gaurav. Also, the few down-the-line forehands I hit early in the match unsettled him. You just can8217;t let him dominate the net.8221;

Natekar had a horrible time with his first serves, and later compounded his misery with umpteen number of unforced errors. He also made three double faults at crucial moments.

8220;I don8217;t know why, but I am having a lot of up-and-down days recently. Today, Harsh played well, but my serve was just not coming. Also, my return of serves, which happens to be my strong point, deserted me completely,8221; said Natekar later.

The win earned Mankad Rs 10,000 and 12 ranking points. Natekar got Rs 5,600. Both the women8217;s finalists were having trouble with her serves. But, compared to Janaki, Rushmi was more consistent in her baseline game. Also, Janaki committed a lot many unforced errors.

Janaki had an opportunity to break Rushmi as early in the first game and put the pressure on the top seed. But she missed two break points as the top seed struggled to get her serves in.

Rushmi got right back into the match, breaking Janaki in the second game and never letting go the advantage.

For her win, Rushmi earned Rs 7,000, while Janaki had to be content with Rs 5,000.

RESULTS

Men8217;s singles final: 3-Harsh Mankad bt 1-Gaurav Natekar 7-5, 6-1

Women8217;s singles final: 1-Rushmi Chakravarthy bt 3-Janaki Krishnamurthy 6-2, 6-3.