Mintri stuns Saran in last four

Mintri, who defeated Piyush S en route to his last-four berth, clinched the first set quite easily and fought off a stiff challenge from Saran in the second before emerging a 6-4, 7-6 (7-1) winner. In another semifinal, fourth seed Niranjan Ram ousted Sujiv Chopra 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

In the corresponding girls’ category, top seed Druthi T Venugopal put behind her first-set loss to prevail over Shambavi Dixit 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Druthi will lock horns with Preethi Gokhale, who posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Moulika B Ram, in the summit clash.

Results (all semifinals, prefix denotes seeding): Boys, under-18: Mintri Aayush bt 1-Saran Sai Reddy 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); 4-Niranjan Ram bt Sujiv Chopra 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.    

Under-16: 8-Siddarth S Reddy bt IB Akshay 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; 6-Suraj Prabodh bt 2-Thippirapathi Santhi Jude Raymond 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Girls, under-18: 1-Druthi T Venugopal bt Shambavi Dixit 4-6, 6-0, 6-2; Preethi Gokhale bt Moulika B Ram 6-2, 6-3.     
Under-16: Moulika B Ram bt 6-Binu Ravi Kumar 6-3, 6-4.