Sood clinches AITA crown

Chandril Sood doesn’t seem to prefer winning tennis matches the easy way. Coming from behind to beat Nitten Kirrtane in the semifinals on Friday, the fourth seed extricated himself from a similar mess to beat the second seed Mohit Mayur to clinch the men’s singles trophy in the DS MAX AITA tennis tournament here at the KSLTA on Saturday.

In the women’s singles final, there was no drama as Sai Samhitha comfortably saw off the challenge of the unseeded Adnya Naik 6-4, 6-2 to be crowned champion.

There was some consolation for both Mayur and Adnya in the doubles event. Mayur, partnering Nitten Kirrtane, won the men’s title while Adnya joined Arantxa Andrady to claim the women’s crown.

The 20-year-old Mohit faded towards the end as his weaker backhand was repeatedly tested by Sood but there were no easy points on offer for either player throughout the contest before Sood took the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. At 1-1 in the third set, the fourth seed broke Mayur to get the advantage but he broke back immediately. As the game progressed, there were frayed tempers with both the players unhappy with the chair umpire but Sood managed to keep his focus to break Mayur again to clinch a 3-2 lead.

Sood consolidated the lead and repeatedly kept attacking Mayur’s weaker backhand to earn crucial points en route to victory.But it could have been very different as Mayur had the early advantage. After exchanging a couple of breaks in the first set, Mayur again broke Sood in the 10th game to take it 6-4.

But the Ludhiana-born Sood came roaring back with deft drop volleys and attacking net play early on in the second set to break Mayur for the early lead. Sood consolidated it further by breaking Mayur once again before taking the second 6-2. The momentum had clearly changed, Mayur was repeatedly relying on his second serve to get him out of jail and Sood was all over him like a rash before finally ousting him in a contest that lasted close to three hours.

The hard-hitting Adnya couldn’t complete her dream run with a victory as she was felled by Samhitha, who was more confident with her strokeplay and passing shots.

After claiming eight consecutive points to take the first set 6-4, she rode on the momentum to take the second as well as the title.

Arantxa Andrady and Adnya Naik claimed the women’s doubles title defeating Smrit Joon and Likitha Shetty 6-1, 6-2.

Results (all finals): Men’s singles: Chandril Sood bt Mohit Mayur 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Women’s singles: Sai Samhitha bt Adnya Naik 6-4, 6-2.

Men’s doubles: Nitten Kirrtane/ Mohit Mayur bt Lakshit Sood/ Chandril Sood 6-2, 6-4.
Women’s doubles: Arantxa Andrady/ Adnya Naik bt Smriti Joon/ Likitha Shetty 6-1, 6-2.