By IANS
London : Purav Raja added to his growing prowess as a double player with a second straight title on the ITF Futures circuit Saturday. The 22-year-old Raja partnered Czech player, Jiri Krkoska to grab the men’s doubles title in Futures 2 at Sheffield.
Raja and Krkoska beat local pair David Brewer and Ian Flannagan after rallying from a first set loss. Raja and Krkoska won 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 with the match being decided in the super tie break.
In the singles, Harsh Mankad came through the qualifying rounds to make the main draw, where he reached the quarterfinals. He shocked third seed Gero Kretschmer (GER) 6-3 7-5 in first round and then beat Briton Sean Thornley 7-5, 6-2 in second round. In the quarters he lost to fifth seed Olivier Charroin of France. The Indian retired while trailing 3-4 in the first set.
A week earlier top seeds Krkoska and Raja beat another British pair Chris Eaton and Kenneth Skupski 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in a close battle.
Interestingly last week Raja beat Krkoska 6-2, 6-2 in a second round singles match.