Suresh lands ITF crown

ISLAMABAD: Second seeded Suresh Darrshan of Malaysia had to work hard to beat Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Wei-Chen 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to claim the boys’ singles title in the Syed Tajammual Abbas ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championships here Saturday.

The venue of the final had to be shifted from the S Dilawar Abbas PTF Tennis Complex to the indoor clay court in Chak Shehzad because of rain in the federal capital.

Cheng, a qualifier, took the second seed by surprise in the first set. The Chinese Taipei player hit a number of winners and forced Suresh into making mistakes, claiming the lead in the final. The second set also produced a good fight with both players going neck and neck till 5-5. Suresh, however, got his rhythm back and won 7-5 to level scores at one-set-all.

The Malaysia was in full flow now. He completely dominated the proceedings with Cheng able to win only one game in the set.

The match lasted nearly two and a half hours. Brig (r) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who is the patron of the Pakistan Tennis Federation and also the president of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, was the chief guest on the occasion.