Russia's Melnikova wins ITF singles title

Russia's Marina Melnikova defeated Tadeja Majeric of Slovakia in straight sets to win the singles title in the USD 25,000 CCI-ITF Women's tennis tournament today.
Third seed Marina carved out a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) victory over her Slovakian rival in the final to win the title at the Cricket Club of India here.
Marina won the first set quite easily by reeling off five games in a row before Tadeja, who upset second seed Anastasiya Vasylyeva of Ukraine in straight sets in the semi- final yesterday, showed some fight.
She grabbed three games on the trot in the second set, which went into a tie breaker, but could not sustain the tempo there and lost the set and match.

India's challenge in singles had ended at the quarter- final stage with the elimination of the country's No. 1 player Ankita Raina.
Raina, however, won the doubles in partnership with China's Jia-Jing Lu yesterday.