SPORTS Monday, June 19, 2017 21 Pouille Srikanth claims bounces Indonesia back Open title to win Stuttgart

title France’s Lucas Pouille poses next to the winner’s car

Stuttgart “That’s my first title on he added, looking back to his who faded towards the end of of renchman Lucas Pouille grass,” said the 23-year-old, win over Jan-Lennard Struff the third set. India returns a shot came from a set down and who has now won three ATP in which he saved a match It was his third final of Fneeded a second set tie-break Tour titles and sits 16th in the point. the season after a defeat to beat Spain’s Feliciano world rankings. Pouille suffered from the to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, to “I had a tight match in the power of Lopez’s serve early Marseille and a victory over claim the grass-court title at first round and from there I on but gradually got the Aljaz Bedene in Budapest. Stuttgart yesterday. took it one match at a time,” measure of the 35-year-old, (AFP) ndian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth yesterday claimed his first ever Indonesia Open Superseries title after defeating JapaneseI qualifier Kazumasa Sakai in an impressive win. World No.22 Srikanth who clinched a spot in the final after scoring a victory against World No.1 Son Wan Ho of South Muller topples Gilles muller (file pic) Korea a day earlier only needed 37 minutes to overpower Sakai in two straight sets with 21-11, 21-19. “It’s been a long time since I’ve won a super series as I was Karlovic in final actually injured after the Olympics,” Srikanth told journalists after the game in Jakarta. ‘s-Hertogenbosch Sakai who ranked 47th managed to take back control at uxembourg’s Gilles Muller downed towering Croat Ivo the beginning of the second game and was leading by 11-6 Karlovic yesterday to claim the title in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in but Srikanth quickly caught up and ended his tournament in aL final with the oldest combined age for two players since 1976. victory. Muller, 34, beat 38-year-old Karlovic 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in a “It’s definitely much needed for me after losing the final in showdown of two of the game’s biggest servers to lift his second the Singapore Open,” Srikanth said. The 24-year-old athlete tour-level trophy, following January’s triumph in Sydney. managed to reach the final in the Singapore Open in April but It was the oldest men’s singles final since Ken Rosewall (42) and had to admit defeat against fellow Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth. Ilie Nastase (30) went head-to-head in Hong Kong 41 years ago. In the women’s single, Sakai’s compatriot won Muller smacked 22 aces to Karlovic’s 19 with not a single break her first ever singles title in a World Federation point for either player as the Luxembourger atoned for last year’s Super Series event after defeating World’s No.5, Sung Ji-Hyun final defeat in the Netherlands to Nicolas Mahut. of South Korea by 21-13, 17-21, 21-19. He next heads to Queen’s where he faces Georgia’s Nikoloz “After the second game, I saw my opponent’s face was quite Basilashvili in the opening round of the Wimbledon warm-up tense... that’s when I started to earn point by point,” Sato told event. journalists. Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit scooped up her first WTA title after Meanwhile in the mixed double, Olympic champion Tontowi beating Natalia Vikhlyantseva of Russia 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia won the only title for final. the country in the tournament after defeating China’s Zheng The 21-year-old from Tallinn, ranked 49th in the world, routed Siwei and in two straight set by 22-20, 21-15. Vikhlyantseva, 20, in just 73 minutes to continue her strong 2017 “This is very meaningful for us, we’ve won in the Olympics, form. we won All England three times before, but we’ve never really Kontaveit finished runner-up on clay in Biel in April and has been a champion at home,” Ahmad said. also recorded wins over world number one Angelique Kerber and In women’s doubles, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan of China 2016 champion Garbine Muguruza this season. beat Chang Ye Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea by 21-19, “I’m just so excited!” said Kontaveit. “It’s been amazing for me, 15-21, 21-10. Their men’s doubles compatriots, and I had really tough matches and I’m so happy to be through them Liu Yuche also won the final against Mathias Boe and Carsten - to win the final, it’s amazing.” (AFP) Morgensen by 21-13, 17-21, 21-14. (AFP)