By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian challenge at the $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament was over with the loss of Ashutosh Singh and Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan in the semi-finals at the DLTA complex here Friday.
Ashutosh, a former national champion, threw away the match from the brink of victory against sixth-seeded Japanese Kento Takeuchi 6-1 4-6, 3-6 while Ranjeet was dispatched for the third time in the three successive weeks by experienced South Korean second seed Young-Jun Kim, who won 6-2, 6-2.
There was disappointment for Ashutosh in the doubles final as well when he and partner compatriot Vishnu Vardhan lost to Britain’s Chris Eaton and India’s Rohan Gajjar 6(6)-7, 6(3)-7.
Ashutosh lost to an out of sorts Takeuchi, who struggled to find his rhythm and made a stream of unforced errors. Ashutosh with his serve and volley game kept the Japanese on his toes, allowing him just a game in the fist set.
He continued in the same vein in the second set breaking Takeuchi early in the first game but was broken back in the fourth. The two exchanged breaks in the following two games before the Japanese held. The Indian had a break point opportunity in the ninth game but failed to convert it and instead got broken in the tenth, netting a backhand return, to make it a set apiece.
The dispirited Indian then lapsed into errors to slump 0-3 in the decider and all the Japanese needed to do was to keep the ball in play. He soon served out the set and the match on his fourth match point after a struggle of over two hours.