Kutsenko Futures champ

CALCUTTA, Nov 14: Uzbekistan's Vadim Kutsenko defeated Oleg Ogorodov for the first time in his career to win the Futures Tennis Circuit sing...

CALCUTTA, Nov 14: Uzbekistan’s Vadim Kutsenko defeated Oleg Ogorodov for the first time in his career to win the Futures Tennis Circuit singles trophy here today. The victory gave the 21-year-old player from Tashkant 16 ATP points and a cheque for $ 1,950.

Kutsenko, the second seed in the tournament with an ATP ranking of 258, needed one hour, 32 minutes, to beat his fellow Uzbek and the top seed 6-3, 6-3. For Ogorodov, reaching the final meant 12 ATP points and $ 1,350. Later on, the duo got together to win the doubles crown beating Vishal Uppal and Vishal Gupta 6-2, 7-5.

The singles final turned out to be a rather boring affair with long monotonous rallies and numerous unforced errors. Both players were trying to out-slug each other with hard ground shots from the baseline. Kutsenko, who displayed a very strong forehand, did earn a few winners, but they were few and far between. Ogorodov, playing with a strapped hamstring, was having some problems in moving around, but made that up by staying behind andusing his height to advantage. The top seed was broken to love in the third game of the first set and never quite recovered from that. He went on to lose the ninth too, serving a double fault at break point. Kutsenko had the set wrapped up in 43 minutes.

In the doubles, the two Vishals from Delhi were no match for the top seed. Gupta was broken twice in the first set as the Uzbeks took it 6-2. In the second set, Gupta once again lost his serve in the seventh game to allow the top seeds to move ahead. Kutsenko and Ogorodov earned 16 ATP points while Gupta and Uppal got 12 ATP points.