Sunil Kumar wins doubles title

Junior India tennis star Sunil Kumar Sipaeya won the doubles title at the Grade-1 junior International tournament played at Kentucky, United States, last week.

Sunil Kumar partnering Raian Luchici of Romania defeated the American pair of Brian Baker and Matthew Emery 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

The duo was unseeded in the tournament and had a first round bye. On their way to the title, they defeated the Austrian pair of Johann-Georg Fankhauser and Stefan Wiespeiner 6-2, 6-1 in the second round. Then they had a big 7-6(6), 0-6, 6-3 upset over the second seeds Ytai Abouzgir of the Unites States and Lamine Ouahab of Algeria. Abouzgir and Ouahab are two very talented players ranked ninth and 12th in singles.

In the semi-final they defeated Derrick Bauer and Chris Kwon of the US 7-6(4), 6-3.

It was a big win for the Indian, as a grade-1 title is the equivalent of a Masters series win in the ATP - or a runner-up finish in a Grand Slam junior draw.

Sunil picked up 140 points for the title, which will raise his ranking points up by 100 to 335 and take his ranking from 53 last week to 31 in doubles this week.

The last title Sunil won was at the grade -2 Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior championships in The Philippines, in April this year.