Arvind, Meenakshi lift titles

By Our Correspondent

Mumbai

July 31: Unseeded B.R. Meenakshi of Petroleum Sports Promotional Board outdid her underdog status to stun third seed Neha Pandit of Air India 21-12, 25-23 to clinch the Rs 5 lakh Tata Open All India badminton championship at the Bombay Gymkhana here on Thursday.

Top seed Arvind Bhat of PSPB had an easy win over Sachin Ratti of Railways 21-19, 21-9 to emerge the winner in the men's singles final.

Meenakshi was a picture of composure and put on display an array of overhead smashes and delicate net shots, all of which left Pandit clueless.

The third seed, who seemed sluggish during the first game, showed flashes of brilliance towards the end, but it was a case of too little, too late.

In the second game though, both were matched point-to-point before Meenakshi clinched the final game that lasted 35 minutes.

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Paes and Dlouhy in quarters

Cincinnati: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi easily advanced to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters tournament along with their respective partners.

The sixth seeded pair of Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of Czech Republic defeated Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and Rogier Wassen of Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 in the second round while Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles got a walkover from Czech pair Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.

Paes-Dlouhy will now face Daniel Nestor of Canada and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic in the next round, while Bhupathi-Knowles will face the winners of the match between Mardy Fish/John Isner and Jonas Bjorkman/ Kevil Ullyett. - PTI