Yuki wins Osaka Mayor's Cup tennis

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) India's Yuki Bhambri defeated Japanese Hiroki Moriya to win the Osaka Mayor's Cup at Osaka Sunday.

Yuki, who got the top billing in the tournament, proved too good for second-seeded Moriya, pummeling him 6-2, 6-3 in the hard court event. This was Yuki's second straight win over the Japanese who he had earlier defeated in Asia-Oceania Championships last year.

However, Yuki and Liang-Chi Huang of Chinese Taipei, were handed an upset defeat by Croats Marin Draganja and Vedran Ljubicic to finish runners-up in doubles.

The singles win in the Grade A event has given 16-year-old Yuki, who is currently ranked 18 in the world, 250 points and could propel him to the fourth place in the world junior rankings.

Yuki shot to limelight by reaching the semi- finals of the junior Australian Open in January but later slumped to a series a bad performances that saw him making early exits from the other three Grand Slams.