Ishaque and Vaidehee triumph – The Hindu

Services’ Ishaque Eqbal capped a fine run and won the tennis men’s singles title. | Photo: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujrat won women’s tennis gold. | Photo: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Services’ Ishaque Eqbal capped a fine run and won the tennis men’s singles title in the National Games at the Parade Ground Stadium here on Tuesday.

The unseeded 27-year-old from Kolkata jolted Gujarat’s top-seeded Javia V. Dev 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the final. Gujarat’s Vaidehee Chaudhari took the women’s title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Maharashtra’s second seed Vaishnavi Adkar to finish with a double. Vaidehee had won the women’s doubles title with Zeel Desai earlier.

After losing the first set in the men’s final, Ishaque was down 1-3 in the next but he didn’t give up.

“After that, I played a really good game on my returns, that’s what changed the momentum and I started believing in myself. That’s when I really got pumped up,” said Ishaque who had beaten the second and third seeds earlier.

The results (tennis, finals):

Men: Ishaque Eqbal (Ser) bt Javia V. Dev (Guj) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Doubles: Prajwal Dev & Nikki K. Poonacha (Kar) bt Ishaque Eqbal & Faisal Qamat (Ser) 6-3, 6-1.

Women: Vaidehee Chaudhari (Guj) bt Vaishnavi Adkar (Mah) 6-4, 6-4. Doubles: Vaidehee Chaudhari & Zeel Desai (Guj) bt Pooja Ingale & Akansha Nitture (Mah) 6-3, 6-2.

Mixed doubles: Lohith Aksha Bathrinath & L. Arunkumar (TN) bt Nikki K. Poonacha & Soha Sadiq (Kar) 6-4, 6-1.