Nitten Kirrtane wins mixed silver in ITF World Championship

Former national champion Nitten Kirrtane won the mixed doubles silver medal, in partnership with Vlada Kirlovska of Latvia.

Vlada Kirilovska and Nitten Kirrtane after winning the silver medal in mixed doubles in Miami.

Former national champion Nitten Kirrtane won the mixed doubles silver medal, in partnership with Vlada Kirlovska of Latvia, in the ITF World Championship for over-40 years in Miami, US.

Top seeds Stefanie Kolar and Marcus Hilpert beat the Indo-Latvian pair 7-6 (13), 6-2 in the final.

"It is the first time I am competing in the World Championship. It is fulfilling. It has been a fascinating journey of three decades in tennis, starting with the Wimbledon doubles runner-up with Mahesh Bhupathi to the World Championship silver now," said Nitten, when contacted in the US.

The southpaw who competes regularly in the men’s circuit as well in the country, appreciated the courage of his partner Kirlovska.

"Vlada injured her ankle badly in the women’s doubles quarterfinals, and had to concede the match. I requested her to play, despite the bad ankle, and she agreed. We pulled through to the final, and lost a tough match. I'm very happy that we ended up doing so well," said Kirrtane.

Seeded second, Nitten and Kirlovska dropped only seven games in all in winning three matches to make the final after a bye in the first round.

In singles, Kirrtane was beaten by top-seed Roberto Menendez Ferre of Spain in the third round.

In doubles, Kirrtane in partnership with Dilip Mohanty was beaten by top seeds Marc Leimbach and Andrew Lux of Germany 6-1, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.

Kirrtane also helped the Indian team to be placed ninth out of 21 teams in the over-40 category.

Sriram, Jeevan lose in China Challenger

Top seeds Sriram Balaji and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were beaten 6-4, 6-2 by the second seeds Cheng-Peng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia in the doubles final of the $75,000 Challenger tennis tournament in China on Saturday.

The champion team collected 90 ATP points and $4,650, while the runners-up won 55 points and $2,700.

Another top seeded pair, Leander Paes along with Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela was beaten 10-7 in the super tie-break of the doubles quarterfinals in the Challenger in the US by Darian King and Evan King.