Prajwal, Niki pair top podium

State’s doubles duo beats Services’ Ishaque, Faisal in straight sets.

Formidable Karnataka had a field day on the tennis courts by powering into two finals and assuring themselves of at least four more medals at the 38th National Games in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on Saturday.

Mysuru’s SD Prajwal Dev, playing with new partner Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha for the first time for Karnataka, advanced to the men’s doubles gold medal match with an authoritative 6-3, 6-0 win over Delhi’s Shivank Bhatnagar and Sarthak Suden.

In the final, the top-seeded Karnataka pair will take on Services’ Ishaque Iqbal and Faisal Qamar.

Poonacha then partnered Soha Sadiq to reach the mixed doubles final. The top seeds outplayed Haryana’s Aditi Rawat and Sunil Kumar 6-2, 6-3. In the title clash, Poonacha and Soha will face the Tamil Nadu duo of Lohith Aksha Bathrinath and Lakshmiprabha Arunkumar.

Karnataka’s Amodini V Naik, who entered the Games after a poor run at the National Ranking event, shocked fourth-seeded Aditi Rawat to reach the women’s semifinals. Amodini staged a comeback to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, setting up a semifinal clash with second-seeded Vaishnavi Adkar.

Earlier, Prajwal Dev barely broke a sweat in his 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sarthak Suden of Delhi in the men’s singles quarterfinals. The 28-year-old will now face Services’ Ishaque Iqbal in the semifinals.

Results:

Men:
Singles (Quarterfinals): S Prajwal Dev (Kar) bt Sarthak Suden (Del) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (Semifinals): Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha/ SD Prajwal Dev (Kar) bt Shivank Bhatnagar/ Sarthak Suden (Del) 6-3, 6-0.

Women:
Singles (Quarterfinals): Amodini V Naik (Kar) bt Aditi Rawat (Har) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Mixed Doubles (Semifinals): Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha/ Soha Sadiq (Kar) bt Aditi Rawat/ Sunil Kumar (Har) 6-2, 6-3.