Sharan, Kannan in title clash

NEW DELHI: In their last meeting at a $10,000 Futures in December, Ashutosh Singh had stroked his way to a straight sets victory over Divij Sharan and gone ahead 2-1 in the head-to-head count.
That piece of statistics mattered little on Friday when Singh took the court against Sharan, who displayed the same form that saw him beat the top seed Aqeel Khan on Thursday.
Though Singh broke his opponent's serve in the opening game, the 20-year-old Sharan avenged that with breaks earned in the fourth and eighth games in the first set. Singh's backhand deserted him while Sharan was hitting winners on the stretch. The second set continued in the same vein and Sharan won a spot in the final with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Meeting Sharan in the final will be Vijay Kannan who beat Tai-Wei Liu 7-5, 6-1.
Results: Singles: Semifinals: Divij Sharan bt Ashutosh Singh 6-3, 6-3; (4) Vijay Kannan bt Tai-Wei Liu 7-5, 6-1; Doubles: Final: (1) Mustafa Ghouse/ Ravi-Shankar Pathanjali bt (3) Ashutosh Singh/ Vijay Kannan 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.