Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan claims title

National champion Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan brushed aside Croatia’s Mate Pavic 6-1 6-1 in a lopsided final of the CCI-ITF Futures tennis tournament here on Saturday.

Pavic, playing his first Futures tournament final, clearly seemed overawed by the situation, as he made too many unforced errors in the match which lasted just over an hour.

Nedunchezhiyan broke Pavic early in the first set to take a 2-0 lead. He blasted some strong forehand winners to keep Pavic at bay, and broke him again in the sixth game to take the first set 6-1.

The Tamil Nadu lad was hardly pushed in the second set, breaking Pavic in the very first game. The 19-year-old Croat showed no sort of resilience thereafter, which ensured that Nedunchezhiyan take the second set 6-1, along with the match.

“It has been a great year for me and I hope to jump between 340 and 350 points in the singles rankings,” said Nedunchezhiyan, who is currently ranked 397th. He will earn 27 ATP points and $1,950 prize money after the win.