Ganapathy routs Rishi for crown

Tennis AITATalent Series: Karnataka lad completes memorable double

Ganapathy, who clinched the boys’ under-14 doubles title along with K Hemanth on Friday, was in top form for the second day in succession, crushing Rishi 6-0, 6-4 to pocket the under-14 singles title as well at the True Bounce courts.

In a lop-sided final that sprang to life only in the second set, Ganapathy just took apart an error-prone Rishi.

Failing to find any sort of control either with his serve or hitting, Rishi kept spraying his shots all over the court as Ganapathy cashed in brilliantly to bag the first set in quick time.
However, not one to give up easily, Rishi staged a remarkable recovery, breaking Ganapathy twice in the second set to take a 4-1 lead and raise hopes of an improbable fightback. But just then, Rishi’s game began to fall apart, an ice-cool Ganapathy breaking him back twice to level the match at 4-4.

Noticing the opportunity, Ganapathy stepped on the accelerator, holding his serve in fine fashion before breaking Rishi for the sixth time in the match to seal a commanding victory.
Tamil Nadu’s CS Praneetha outlasted Karnataka’s Shikha N Singh in a marathon clash to clinch the girls’ under-14 crown. After losing the opening set 6-7 (3-7) in a tie-break, the Tamil Nadu girl held her nerve brilliantly in closely-contested second and third sets, winning 7-5, 6-3 respectively.


Results (all finals): Boys: U-14: PM Ganapathy (Kar) bt Rishi Reddy (Kar) 6-0, 6-4.  Girls: U-14: CS Praneetha (TN) bt Shikha N Singh (Kar) 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-3.