Khan to clash with Crawford in finals of $15000 KPIT–MSLTA ITF WTT Cup Mens tennis championships
Pune , March 27, 2021 : Zane Khan of USA made it to the third straight finals in a row setting up a summit clash with Great Britain’s Oliver Crawford in the men’s singles finals of the $15000 KPIT –MSLTA ITF WTT Cup Men’s tennis championships being organized by MSLTA in association with Deccan Gymkhana and played at their tennis courts.
In the semifinals played today the winner of the Lucknow and the Indore legs of the Indian ITF swing 19 year old Zane Khan upset fifth seeded and 25 year old Jonathan Mridha of Sweden 6-1,7-5 in a 2hour 13min duel .
Khan played flawlessly breaking Mridha in the 2nd and 4th games of the first set . In the second set Khan recovered from being 2-5 down to claim 5 games in a row and win the set and the match .
In the second semifinal match between 21 year olds Oliver Crawford of Great Britain proved to be superior stopping the good run of sixth seeded Manish Sureshkumar winning 6-4,6-2 in 1hour23 minutes.
Crawford who had the distinction of felling two other Indians Dev Javia and Arjun Kadhe on the route to last four meted the same treatment to Manish who looked jaded due to long matches earlier in the week.
The Britisher broke Manish in the 7th game in a set that saw as many as 5 breaks to win the first set 6-4. In the second set Crawford broke in the 3rd and the 5th games to win the set and the match .
The singles winner will get $2,160(₹156500) and 18 ATP points while the runners up will receive $1,272 (₹92000) .
The finals of the second event of the KPIT Supported ITF event will be played 10 am onwards
Following are the results: Semifinal Round: Singles: Mens:
Zane Khan (USA) [8] btJonathan Mridha (SWE) [5] 6-1, 7-5;
Oliver Crawford (USA) [4] bt Manish Sureshkumar (IND) [6] 6-4, 6-2.
