National Champion Ashutosh Singh put up a valiant effort, but that was not enough to lift his first ITF singles title as he stumbled in the final of the USD 10,000 grass court event in Lahore [ Images ] on Saturday.

The second-seeded Indian went down fighting against top seed Czech Adam Vejmelka 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6).

Ashutosh staged a comeback in the second set after conceding the first, but his higher ranked opponent, 334 in the world, prevailed in the tie-breaker of the deciding set to lift the title.

This is for the second consecutive week that an Indian failed to cross the final hurdle to capture a singles title. Last week at the same venue, Divij Sharan had lost to local star Aqeel Khan in the final.