Sanam Singh’s stellar run in the $15,000 Tevlin Men’s ITF F8 Futures tennis tournament came to a disappointing end as he lost the singles final to local boy and top-seed Peter Polanksy of Canada in Toronto.
The Indian, seeded second in the tournament, lost tamely in straight sets 2-6, 2-6.
Egged on by a vociferous home crowd support, Polanksy did not allow Sanam to play a spoiler to his title-winning plans and asserted his authority from the outset.
Normally, a final showdown between the top-seed and the number two seed point to a close affair, but it was not the case on Sunday as the Canadian wrested the initiative breaking Sanam’s serve early to march ahead.
The 379th ranked Indian struggled with his serves and did not quite look to be in his elements. He found it hard to breach the Canadian’s serve and the unforced errors from his racquet only made things difficult for him.
The Canadian broke the Indian’s serve for the second time to close out the opening set at 6-2.
The 25-year-old Chandigarh-born lad really needed to pull up his socks to stay in the contest, but Polanksy did not lower his guard and kept consolidating his dominance.
He effected the crucial break of serve in the second set and from then on Sanam had his backs to the will.
The Indian was resigned to his fate as he lost his serve and the Canadian hastened the victory march pocketing the second set at 6-2.
Polansky had earlier got a walkover from fourth seeded Indian Vijayant Malik in the semifinals.
Earlier in the semifinals, Sanam overcame stiff resistance from fifth seeded American Michael Shabaz before prevailing in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
The Indian has put it across American Evan King in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(0) in the quarterfinals.
Sanam had launched his campaign breezing past Duck Hee Lee of Korea in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.
It may be worth mentioning that Sanam had slumped forty places in the latest ATP rankings, and the impressive showing in the tourney should help him arrest the rapid fall in rankings.
It is quite possible that Sanam may above the 350-ranking bracket in the coming week following his exploits in Toronto.