Second seed Megh Bhargav Patel of Gujarat reached the final after demolishing an error-prone Abhimanyu Vannemreddy of Karnataka 6-4, 6-2 in the AITA National Series under-16 tennis tournament for the RT Narayan Memorial Trophy at the KSLTA courts here on Friday.
On Saturday’s final, Megh will take on fourth seed from Maharashtra Karan Srivastava who put on a dominant performance to upset top seed Dhakshineswar Suresh of Tamil Nadu 6-1, 6-4 in the other last-four tie.
Second seed Humera Shaik of Andhra Pradesh continued her rich vein of form to defeat Karnataka’s Apoorva SB 6-4, 6-3 in the girls’ singles semifinals. In the final, she will face the top seed from Telangana Shivani Amineni, who progressed after getting a walk over from West Bengal’s Yubrani Banerjee.
Abhimanyu and Megh traded breaks till the eighth game before the second seed broke away from his rival. Abhimanyu did put up a fight in the ninth, but Megh stayed firm and produced a variety of strokes to hold the game for a 5-4 lead.
Abhimanyu then saved two break points but the Gujarati prevailed with a superb forehand shot at advantage to win the game and the set.
Having lost his rhythm, Abhimanyu couldn’t earn a single break in the second set and found himself trailing 0-3. Megh, on the other hand, was at his destructive best as he dominated Abhimanyu in the remaining games and went on to clinch the set at 6-2 and the match.
Among girls, Humera took full advantage of Apoorva, who was too defensive in her approach. The second seed was consistent with groundstrokes and soon claimed the first set at 6-4. Humera continued to pile pressure on the Karnataka girl in the second set and triumphed 6-3.
Later, Megh teamed up with Dhakshineswar to defeat Karan Srivastava and Abhimanyu 6-1, 6-7 (4), 10-7 to grab top honours in the boys’ doubles final.
Shivani Amineni and Humera Shaik came from a set down to beat Aher Salsa and Rutuparna Choudhary 5-7, 7-5, 10-6 and emerge champions in the girls’ doubles title clash.
Results: boys: singles, semifinals: Megh Bhargav Patel bt Abhimanyu Vannemreddy 6-4, 6-2; Dhakshineswar Suresh lt to Karan Srivastava 1-6, 4-6.
Doubles, final: Dhakshineswar Suresh/ Megh Patel bt Karan Srivastava/ Abhimanyu Vannemreddy 6-1, 6-7 (4), 10-7.
Girl: Singles, semifinals: Humera Shaik bt Apoorva SB 6-4, 6-3; Shivani Amineni got W/o Yubrani Banerjee.
Doubles, final: Shivani Amineni/ Humera Shaik bt Aher Salsa/ Rutuparna Choudhary 5-7, 7-5, 10-6.
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