New Delhi, October 14, 2006 Hail Purav Raja, the new men’s singles national tennis champion. On Saturday, the tall man from Mumbai played with purpose to conquer Vishnu Vardhan 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final of the DSCL Open National tennis championship 2006.

“I am thrilled to win this title, I fought hard for it,” said Purav Raja, who had not expected to come this far. He had won the men’s doubles title as well on Friday with coach Sandeep Kirtane. “I must thank Sandeep Kirtane for this help, without it I would not have won,” said Raja.

In the ladies’ section, top seed Isha Lakhani was too solid for Sandhya Nagaraj, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Isha, who had injured her left knee during the tournament, was in some pain. “I knew my knee would hurt but the doctor told me not to worry and continue and see if I could win. It feels great to be the National champion again,” she said.

Sriram Balaji and Kyra Shroff emerged champions in boys’ and girls’ under-18 respectively. The hottest  match of the day in the muggy weather was the men’s singles final. The tall Vishnu Vardhan was in rip-roaring form in the first set as he demolished Purav 6-1. But Purav, who won his maiden title, was not flummoxed by the pressure. He knew his game was not big and the best way to counter his opponent was to play slow tennis and execute shots which were not going to be pacy.

Purav went up 2-0 in the second set and from there it was an intense fight. But after that, the tall Vishnu level-pegged shortly and forced the match into a tie-breaker. In the tie-break, the athletic Vishnu made a lot of errors and lost almost five points because of it. “I was a bit confused in the match,” said Vishnu later.

But the best came from Purav Raja in the third and fourth sets. The Mumbai hero looked he was tired but the fighting spirit was intact. He kept executing shots which did not give Vishnu Vardhan the rhythm to hit hard. It was more  a case of Vishnu having to generate pace – easier said than done.

Early breaks in the third and fourth sets did no good to Vishnu’s cause. It was a case of the favourite lacking a game plan for a big event like the final.

Results (all singles finals):

Men: Purav Raja bt Vishnu Vardhan 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 6-3.
Boys (under-18): Sriram Balaji bt Fariz Mohammad 0-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Ladies: Isha Lakhani bt Sandhya Nagaraj 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Girls (under-18): Kyra Shroff bt  Kelsey Sundaram 7-5, 6-4.