China`s Lu completes double crown

Pune: China`s Jia-Jing Lu lifted a memorable double crown by winning the singles title at the LIC- ITF Women`s Tennis Championships, which concluded at the MSLTA School of Tennis at the Mhalunge Balewadi Sports Complex on Saturday.

In the singles final, the 23-year-old Chinese player, ranked 504 in the world, scored an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory over 316th ranked rival and second seed Nicha Lertipitaksinchai of Thailand in an hour and 8 minutes. Lu had won the doubles title along with her sister Jia-Xiang Lu yesterday. "I`m very happy and Pune is a very lucky city for me, as I won my first ever ITF singles title," said Lu from Beijing. Nicha broke Lu in the first game, but the Chinese seemed to carry off her rhythm, thumping winners on both flanks and executing deft services and good-angled returns to break back in the 6th and the 8th games to wrap up the set 6-3 in 51 minutes. The Thai made mistakes galore, while the confident Lu kept going for her forehand winners to break the second seeded Nicha in the 2nd and 8th games to clinch the second set 6-2 and the match. Lu took home the winner`s cheque of USD 1,568 and 18 WTA points, while the runner up got 10 WTA points and USD 980 for her effort. PTI