Nitin Kirtane sizzles

CHENNAI, MARCH 5: Top seed Vijay Kannan (Del) carved out an impressive straight sets win over former Davis Cup player Sandeep Kirtane of ...

CHENNAI, MARCH 5: Top seed Vijay Kannan (Del) carved out an impressive straight sets win over former Davis Cup player Sandeep Kirtane of Maharashtra to set up a title clash with Nitin Kirtane who downed second seed Vinod Sridhar (TN) in semi-final matches of the Gold Flake Aces Tour Tennis Championship (second leg) here today.

While Kannan won 6-3, 7-5, fourth seed Nitin Kirtane (Maha) overcame Sridhar, a gold medallist at the Imphal National Games, 6-3 6-2.

Both Kannan and Sandeep also figure in the doubles finals, though on opposite sides. Sandeep along with cousin Nitin survived a tough semi-final match against Praveen Kumar-Anand Radhakrishnan combination 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.On the other hand, Kannan-Rishi Sridhar pair had it easy with the Vasudeva Reddy-Manoj Mahadevan duo conceding the match down 2-3. This was after Reddy complained of back pain and refused to continue.

For Kannan, a reserve in the Davis Cup team, it was sweet revenge as he had lost in the semi-finals of the Madurai leg to eventualwinner Sandeep Kirtane, seeded three here.