NEW DELHI, October 9 (www.dsclopentennis.com) - Delhi schoolgirl Sanaa Bhambri completed a wonderful treble at the 13th DSCL Open National Tennis Championship when she beat Sonal Phadke in a long battle of nerves with a show of tenacity and mental strength in the women's singles final at the DLTA Complex here this evening.

The second seed won the long drawn contest, interrupted by bad light and a power failure, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to add to the women's doubles crown won last evening in Isha Lakhani's company and the girls' under-18 singles prize that she claimed this morning with a straight sets verdict over Parul Goswami.

Earlier, top-seeded Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) rallied from the loss of the first set to put paid to second seed Vinod Sridhar's aspirations of regaining men's crown with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 victory in the final.

A rain break delayed the women's final but 16-year-old Sanaa surged 3-1 ahead in the first set when she broke Sonal Phadke but the lanky 22-year-old Mumbaikar broke back in the seventh game to get back on even keel. However, the left-hander stepped on the gas pedal to break her rival's serve in the eighth game to be able to serve the set out.

Sonal Phadke raised her game a notch or two to not only make Sanaa Bhambri commit uncharacteristic errors but also to hit several winners on either flank. She broke the Delhi girl's serve in the fourth and eighth games to give herself the chance to stop Sanaa Bhambri from winning the title that he elder sister Ankita had claimed last year.

The break due to bad light and a power failure meant that both players lost their momentum and the final set boiled down to a contest of grit. There was as many as five service breaks in the third set, Sonal Phadke sending a backhand return wide on championship point to let Sanaa Bhambri complete a unique treble.
Many recalled Uzma Khan winning the women's and girls under-18 double crown in 1998 but nobody could recall an instance of a player winning a treble as indeed Sanaa Bhambri has done this time. She had played a role in helping sister Ankita win a double in the senior ranks last year but she went one better now.

Aqeel Khan, the 24-year-old who has had little experience of playing against left-handers, was coming into his own when he was found help from unexpected quarters. He had lost the first set after being broken in the ninth game. In the eighth game of the second set, Vinod Sridhar chased a forehand return so hard that he pulled a groin muscle.

Hard as the Chennai-based ONGC officer tried by giving his all in his bid to break Aqeel Khan's serve in the ninth game, Vinod Sridhar was unable to pull that off and the man from Karachi hung in to claim the set with a break in the 12th game. Aqeel Khan won the next two sets on a canter as the Vinod Sridhar's game came unstuck.

"I am delighted to win the Indian National championship. It is a special feeling because as a youngster I always used to dream of playing in the Indian circuit," Aqeel Khan said, thanking the All India Tennis Association and DSCL for extending him an invitation. "I will be back in India more and will surely come back to defend the title."

Vinod Sridhar, who won the DSCL Open National title in 2002 when he outslugged Mustafa Ghouse in the final, was disappointed that the groin muscle pull stopped him from putting his best foot forward. "It is unfortunate and one has to live with it. Had I won the second set, I may have pushed myself a bit to win in straight sets," he said.

Delhi's Vivek Shokeen and Sanaa Bhambri claimed the boys and girls' under-18 titles in contrasting styles. The second-seedeed Vivek Shokeen, who won ITF junior events in Mumbai and Gurgaon last month, stunned the top seed Rupesh Roy (Bengal) in three sets while the left-handed Sanaa Bhambri beat Parul Goswami (Delhi), winning the second set with ease after being made to fight through the first.

It was the second title for Sanaa, 16, who had won the women's doubles crown along with Maharastra's left-handed Isha Lakhani last evening. The pair, seeded second, had surprised the top-seeded Sonal Phadke and Liza Pereira in straight sets.

The results (all finals):

Men's singles: 1 Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) beat 2 Vinod Sridhar (Tamil Nadu) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1. Men's doubles: 1 Ajay Ramaswamy (Maharashtra) and Vinod Sridhar beat Kamala Kannan and VM Ranjeet (Tamil Nadu) 6-2, 6-2.

Women's singles: 2 Sanaa Bhambri (Delhi) beat 3 Sonal Phadke (Maharashtra) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Women's doubles: 2 Sanaa Bhambri (Delhi) and Isha Lakhani (Maharashtra) beat 1 Sonal Phadke and Liza Pereira (Maharashtra) 7-6 (7), 6-1;

Boys' under-18 singles: 2 Vivek Shokeen (Delhi) beat 1 Rupesh Roy (Bengal) 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Boys under-18 doubles: 1 Anshuman Dutta (Assam) and Rupesh Roy beat 2 Sumit Gupta (Uttar Pradesh) and Tejaswi Rao (Andhra Pradesh) 6-1, 6-4;

Girls' under-18 singles: 1 Sanaa Bhambri (Delhi) beat Parul Goswami (Delhi) 7-5, 6-1. 2 GK Shweta (Karnataka) and Preeti Subramaniam (Tamil Nadu) beat 4 Paria Maloo and Ashmita Easwaramoorthy 6-2 7-6 (3).