Ashutosh Singh and Ankita Raina won their maiden national grasscourt titles, at the Calcutta South Club on Saturday. Ashutosh, a qualifier, beat PC Vignesh 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 after wild card Ankita tamed fourth-seed Sheethal Goutham 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
The Kolkata duo of Shivika Burman and Treta Bhattacharyya won the women’s doubles title, beating Goutham and Sweta Solanki 7-6(7-2), 1-6, 10-7.
Ashutosh needed to draw on all his experience to just hang in there.
“I needed to hang in there when he (Vignesh) was smoking fire and painting the lines. I told myself if he continues that way, he deserves to win, but I also knew it could be difficult to sustain such high intensity performance,” said Ashutosh.
Ankita, 16, won on her first attempt at the senior level. The girl from Ahmedabad shifted to Pune two years ago to train under Hemant Bendrey.