Machado seals place in ITF Pro Circuit SL Futures

Saturday, 7 February 2015 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Top seed Rui Machado from Portugal effortlessly dismantled Serbian Miljan Zekic with a 6-2, 6-2 conquest, to ease into the singles finals of the Sri Lankan F1 Futures leg of the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Pro Circuit, at the Queen’s Tennis Club yesterday. The final act of the singles category will see Machado confront Czech Jan Satral, who booked a finals berth with a blistering 6-3, 6-4 win over Jonas Luetjen of Germany.

The doubles final delivered a heavier dose of excitement as the German pairing of Daniel Altmaier and Tom Schonenberg were stretched to their limits before eking out a pulsating victory against Spaniard Jose Checa-Calvo and Machado. Altmaier and Schonenberg surrendered the first set in a tiebreak before rolling back to claim the second set 6-3. The final set extended into a brutal battle of attrition with both teams unwilling to succumb to defeat. However, Checa-Calvo and Machado eventually faltered to hand their opponents a 6-7, 6-3, 11-7 triumph. Machado will be hoping to do better in his second finals appearance, but if his doubles outing offers any indication of the action which can be expected during the denouement of the singles competition then the fans who assemble at the Queen’s Club for the match’s 9:00 a.m. start are in for a treat. The Queens Tennis Club functions as the tennis arm of the Gymkhana Club. The club - which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year - conducted the tournament, the first men’s Futures ITF tournament to be held in Sri Lanka after a period of more than 10 years, over the past with it attracting players from 32 countries.