Russian Evgeny Donskoy wins singles title of UP Open ITF $25K Men’s Tournament at Lucknow 

Navneet Sehgal, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of sports, Government of Uttar Pradesh, during the prize distribution ceremony of with the winner Evgeny Donskoy and runner-up Eric Vanshelboim UP Open ITF $25K Men’s Tournament at the Ekana International Tennis Stadium.

Khel Today Bureau 

Lucknow: Former world number 65 Evgeny Donskoy continued with his stunning form to overcome Eric Vanshelboim in the men’s singles finals of the UP Open ITF $25K Men’s Tournament at the Ekana International Tennis Stadium today.

22-year-old Eric didn’t put much of a challenge in the first set and made several unforced errors, especially on the backhand while the 33-year-old experienced Donskoy came up with a strong variation in his game to breeze away in the first set 6-2. 

Eric did regain some momentum in the second set and at one point was leading 5-4 and 40-15 but it was all downhill from there as he couldn’t find the rhythm in his volley and piled up errors to go down 7-5. This was Donskoy’s second consecutive ITF $25K title.

Navneet Sehgal, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of sports, Government of Uttar Pradesh, was the chief guest and handed over the trophy to the winner.

It was a great week of tennis and I hope the tennis players learned and enjoyed watching professional players from all over the world play.- Navneet Sehgal, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of sports, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Evgeny Donskoy said: “I am very happy to win this tournament in Lucknow. I love coming over to India and performing well. The tournament was very well organised and I would like to extend my gratitude to the tournament organisers, ball boys and girls, umpires and everyone who was part of the tournament and came out to support.”

Navneet Sehgal said, “It was a great week of tennis and I hope the tennis players learned and enjoyed watching professional players from all over the world play. The quality of tennis in this tournament was exceptional and it was a pleasure to watch players put in the fight for every point. We hope to bring in more such tournaments in the future.”