Upsets top seed Rohan Gide, tops it upwith doubles title

It’s not the age, but the skill and endurance matters in the game of tennis, and none other than former Davis Cupper Nitin Kirtane will be the perfect example for this. Nitin, who will turn 35, on March 4 this year, has validated the point that he has lot more tennis left in him as he entered the single’s final followed by title in the doubles along with his cousin Sandeep in the DES Trophy All India Ranking Men’s Tennis Tournament at Fergusson College here on Thursday.

In the singles semi-final, top seed Rohan Gide from Pune struggled against Nitin’s aggression with a combination of backhand slices and forehand strokes and he went down tamely 4-6 3-6 in straight sets.

“His slices were good and it troubled me a lot as I was struggling to come over it,” was the frustrated reaction from Gide. “I was expecting a tough fight, but I never thought I will loose in two sets,” he added. Gide, tried hard to comeback in the second set by some cracking shots. He even saved a match point in the seventh game when he was down 2-5 and later won the game to take the score 3-5. However, Kirtane firmly hold his serve and walked away with a smile. He will now take on Akash Wagh in the summit clash on Friday. Wagh fought back to script a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over Mumbai’s Shahbaz Khan in the second semi-final.

Later, in the double’s final Kirtane brothers crushed Amod Wakalkar and Akash Wagh 6-3 6-2 to lay their hands on the title. Wakalkar-Wagh pair gained 2-1 lead in the third game, but later failed to maintain it against the suburb co-ordinated game from Kirtane duo. Wakalkar blamed it to his partner for the defeat. “We were up in the third game, but Akash failed to maintain his serve twice in the first set. In the second set too, his serve was broken and that made the difference,” he said.

Ashish Phadnis/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication