India’s Vijay Kannan with doubles partner Alexey Kedryuk of Kazakhstan after clinching the title on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Vijay Kannan gave India some reason to rejoice, claiming the Coal India-ITF Men’s Futures doubles title at the Jaidip Mukerjea Tennis Academy on Friday.

After Indian hopes evaportaed with the exit of Vivek Shokeen and Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan in the quarter finals on Thursday, the world No. 726 Kannan, partnered Alexey Kedryuk of Kazakhstan to pip the Chinese Taipei duo of Huai-En Chang and Hsien-Yin Peng 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4) en route to the title.

On a day when both the singles semi-finals were one-sided, the doubles summit clash saw a keen contest. Both players held each other’s serves as the first set went into tie-breaker in which the Indo-Kazakh duo struggled hard to come to terms with the proceedings. However the duo were a touch clinical in the second set to bag the title.

The Chennai-based Kannan’s match reading did the trick, felt New Delhi-based national coach T. Chandrasekaran. Kannan is also a former national (hard court) champion.

Having seen Kannan many a time Chandrasekaran added: “He’s very consistent and has a powerful serve. Moreover his match temperament is good. He reads his opponent very well to enjoy the upper hand.”

Kannan, who was a member of the Davis Cup team, earned India a gold medal in the Afro-Asian Games (Hyderabad) in 2003. Kannan-Kedryuk bagged a prize-money of Rs 37,500 while the runners-up were richer by Rs 19,600.

The title showdown Saturday will see a battle between top seed Alexander Satschko of Germany and seventh seeded Hyun-Woo Nam of Korea.

Satschko eased past his Taepei opponent Tsung Hua Yang 6-3, 6-3 in 95 minutes to make the final, while Nam had to sweat it out in the second set against Serbian David Savic. Nam wrapped up the first set 6-1. In the second set, Savic took a 3-0 lead before Nam bounced back 6-4 to settle the match in 90 minutes.