No Indian in ITF Men`s Futures

New Delhi: Indians suffered a double blow in the singles event of the USD 10,000 ITF Men`s Futures event as both Ashutosh Singh and national champion Ranjeet Virali Murugesan lost their semifinal matches at the DLTA complex here today. Unseeded Ashutosh squandered a set advantage to lose 6-1 4-6, 3-6 to sixth-seeded Japanese Kento Takeuchi while Ranjeet had no match of South Korean second seed Young-Jun Kim who won 6-2, 6-2. As if the singles disappointment was not enough, Ashutosh and compatriot Vishnu Vardhan, seeded top, lost to Britain`s Chris Eaton and India`s Rohan Gajjar 6(6)-7, 6(3)-7 in doubles final. Ashutosh was in his elements in the first set of his singles semifinal match with his serve and volley game while Takeuchi struggled all along with a lot of unforced errors. The Indian looked like he would wrap up the match as he broke Takeuchi in the first game of the second set. The Japanese, however, made a strong comeback by breaking back Ashutosh in the fourth game. Ashutosh had a break point chance in the ninth game but failed to convert it and instead got broken in the tenth to make the match a set apiece. The Indian then committed a flurry of errors to slump to 0-3 before losing the decider 3-6. Bureau Report