Wild card Rutuja lifts singles title

Wild card Rutuja Bhosale capped her fine run by beating Mahak Jain to win the $15,000 Endurance Aurangabad Open women’s ITF tennis championships on Saturday.

The Maharashtra player justified her getting a wild card, winning 6-4, 6-4 against the 16-yearold Jain in an hour and 24 minutes.

It was her first title win in India after a gap of five years.

Rutuja and Mahak traded service breaks thrice before the former got a decisive break in the ninth game and held her serve in the next to claim the first set.

Rutuja broke her rival in the fifth game of the second set to go up 4-2.

It seemd then that the match was beyond Mahak.

But she retaliated well, breaking back in the eighth to level scores at 4-4.

But Rutuja broke back Mahak in the very next game and held her serve in the 10th to wrap up the set and the match.

Rutuja pocketed 12 WTA points and $2,352 while Mahak secured seven WTA points and earned $1,470.

Rutuja, however, could not complete a double as she and her doubles partner Kanika Vaidya were beaten in the final by Pranjala Yadlapalli and Xiaoxi Zhao of China who won 2-6, 6-3, 10-4.

The winning pair got $900 and 12 points while the runners-up duo received $510 and seven points.

Rutuja pocketed 12 WTA points and $2,352, Mahak secured seven points and earned $1,470. It was her first title win in India after a gap of five years.