Singh wins singles, doubles crown in Olivarez Cup

MANILA, Philippines -- Eighth seed Karunaday Singh of India outlasted third pick Shuichi Sekuguchi of Japan, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, Sunday to clinch the singles title and complete a double victory after taking the doubles crown the day before at the conclusion of the $15,000 Olivarez-Cup-Philippine International Men’s Tennis Championship at the Rizal Tennis Center.

It was fitting effort to what has been a memorable week by the World No. 486 player after he and partner Ivo Klec of Slovakia shocked top seed Fil-Am Ruben Gonzales and Thai Sonchat Ratiwatana to snare the doubles crown the day before.

"It was a pretty even match," said the 23-year-old Singh moments after receiving the trophy from Philta vice president Randy Villanueva, who was there in lieu of Philta president and tournament benefactor Edwin Olivarez.

"I just played more aggressive in the end that really helped me get this," he added.

And Karunaday didn't let fatigue of playing a whopping 17 sets including four tiebreaks and a couple super tiebreakers in the last three days alternating his singles and doubles matches get in the way.

After a relatively easy first two days, Singh ran into tough opposition and edged No. 2 Chen Ti of Chinese Taipei, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(5), in the quarterfinals, Filipino PJ Tierro, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, in the semis before his three-set classic with Sekuguchi.

During this stretch, Singh was winning doubles matches with Klec, turning back No. 2 Benjamin Mitchell and Andrew Whittington of Australia, 7-6(1), 2-6, 10-2, in the quarters, No. 3 Chen Ti  of Taipei and Christopher Rungkat of Indonesia, 6-3, 7-6(4), and No. 1 Gonzales and Ratiwatana, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8, one after the other.

"It was an unbelievable past few days for me playing several tiebreakers and three-setters under this hot weather," said Singh. "I'm just glad I plodded on and didn't lose my aggressiveness."

For his week's work, Singh took home a combined purse worth $3,092, $2,162 off his singles triumph and another $930 to his doubles feat.