Top seed Prakash Amritraj completed a hat-trick of titles when he beat Indonesian Febi Widhiyanto 6-2, 7-6 to win the ITF Satellite Masters singles crown at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association courts on Friday evening.
Amritraj, who had earlier won the Chandigarh and Delhi legs of the Satellite circuit, displayed fine touch during the match, which began 30 minutes behind schedule due to a heavy shower that lashed the capital in the afternoon. He broke Widhiyanto in the very first game and then again in the third and fifth to establish a comfortable 5-0 lead.
But he let down his guard and the Indonesian broke him and then held to reduce the lead to 5-2.
That was all the liberty Widhiyanto was allowed as Amritraj roared back and finished the set with an ace.
If the first set lasted just 40 minutes, the second set was keenly contested as Widhiyanto put up a much improved show. His game gained some momentum as he held serve, forcing Amritraj to make commit errors. Both players held serve for the first four games, till the 23-year-old Indonesian effected the first break of the set when he broke Amritraj in the sixth game to go 4-2 up.
But the 19-year-old US-based player refused to squander away the early advantage he had gained and broke back to make it 3-4. He then served brilliantly to level scores at 4-4 and broke again to move up 5-4.
But serving for the set, Amritraj faltered and Widhiyanto drew parity to make it 5-5. The Indonesian, who had lost the final of the $10,000 Futures tournament in Jorhat earlier in the season, took a 6-5 lead but failed to take the set on his serve and the match drifted into the tie-breaker in which Amritraj proved better, winning it at 7-3 for the set and match.
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