Vishwakarma stuns favourite Kadhe to emerge champion, Mahak defends title at Fenesta Nationals

An energetic Siddharth Vishwakarma overwhelmed title-favourite and top seed Arjun Kadhe with his thunderous returns to emerge new national tennis champion while Mahak Jain outplayed Natsaha Palha to defend the women's singles crown at Fenesta Nationals here Saturday.

Left-handed Vishwakarma's impressive run culminated with a 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 win over Kadhe, who is ranked 358 against a humble 1221st ranking of the new champion.

The gap in ranking was huge but there was no gulf as far as quality of tennis was concerned with Vishwakarma dictating terms in the men's singles final.

The 23-year-old from Varanasi moved the Pune-based Kadhe, who was part of the Indian Davis Cup team in Serbia as a reserve member, on both sides of the court, with his deep and powerful returns.

Kadhe mostly put back short balls, which were easily sent back by Vishwakarma, who also used angles very effectively.

Kadhe usually has a solid backhand but it did not work on Saturday with feisty returns from Vishwakarma .