Sheetal Goutham wins
maiden ITF title

Playing her maiden final, unseeded Sheetal Goutham upset the applecart of fourth seed Swede Nina Wennerstrom to clinch the $5000 ITF women's Masters tennis title in Delhi, on Friday.

It was an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory for the 19-year-old. She nullified the pace of Wennerstrom with better placing and attacking volleys win in 52 minutes.

Goutham began her challenge by breaking the very first service of Wennerstrom and did not look back thereafter.

Wennerstrom, who had beaten Goutham in the second leg of the tournament at Bangalore, committed at least half a dozen double-faults.

The victory saw the Indian bag five WTA points.

Goutham, a student of B M Jain college, Bangalore, thanked the college authorities for backing her and said the match with Radhika Tulpule in the quarter-final had given her a "real break" in this tournament.

However, Goutham came a cropper in the doubles final. Pairing with Liza Pereira, she lost to second seeds Yamini Thukaiandi/Arthi Venkataraman 6-4, 6-2.