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The third-seeded pair of Sriram Balaji and Jonathan Erlich of Israel outplayed fourth seeds Sander Arends and Tristan-Amuel Weissborn 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the $162,480 Challenger in Chinese Taipei to win $9,300 and collect 125 ATP points.

It was the first title of the season for Balaji, who was partnering Erlich for the first time. The 42-year-old Erlich had won the Challenger in Australia last year with Divij Sharan. He had claimed the Australian Open n 2008 with his long-time partner Andy Ram.

“We saw each other during the Bangkok Challenger few weeks ago. Balu sir (Coach M. Balachandran) was travelling with me. He finalised our partnership,” said Balaji, who is scheduled to play three more weeks with Erlich in Korea.

“Next two weeks I am playing with (Jamie) Cerretani in China, as Erlich doesn’t want to play on clay’’, said Balaji.

It was the sixth Challenger title for Balaji, who had won his other five with Vishnu Vardhan over the last two years.

Ankita falters in final
In the ITF women’s event in Istanbul, top seed Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia proved too strong for Ankita Raina, winning the final 6-4, 6-0.

The results (finals):

$162,480 Challenger, Taipei City: Jonathan Erlich (Isr) & Sriram Balaji bt Sander Arends (Ned) & Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (Aut) 6-3, 6-2.

$60,000 ITF women, Istanbul: Vitalia Diatchenko (Rus) bt Ankita Raina 6-4, 6-0.

Source : Hindu