The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Ajai to meet Manu in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 28, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Ajai to meet Manu in final

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI, AUG. 27. Ajai Selvaraj knows it is now or never. The 18-year-old from Tamil Nadu in his last year in the juniors has realised that with a depleted field this could be his best chance. The local lad has played with total authority and self-belief in the adidas-Madras Cricket Club AITA National junior and sub-junior tennis championship so far. That too without losing a set.

On Friday at the MCC courts, the unseeded Ajai served nine aces to outplay wildcard entrant and State-mate R. Parivel 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals.

His opponent in the final Manu Bajpai of Karnataka, however, is no pushover. Manu shut out the challenge of Tamil Nadu's Nithyaesh Natraj, the fourth seed, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinal.

Vandana Murali of Tamil Nadu, the top seed, gained immensely from the errors from the big serving and well-built Asha Nandakumar of Karnataka in the girls' under-18 semifinals. The Karnataka lass committed 18 double faults and almost gifted the match to Vandana, 6-4, 6-3.

Seventh seed S. Preethi of Tamil Nadu overcame Andhra Pradesh's Pooja K. Kommi Reddy 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to make the final.

The results:

Boys (semifinals): U-18 singles: Ajai Selvaraj (TN) bt R. Parivel (TN) 6-2, 6-2; Manu Bajpai (Kar) bt Nithyaesh Natraj (TN) 6-3, 6-3. U-14 singles: Debendra Das (Mah) bt Yuki Bhambri (Del) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; Vinay Kamineni (AP) bt Siddharth Balaji (TN) 6-2, 6-2. U -18 doubles final: Ajai Selvaraj & Vijay Sundar Prashanth (TN) bt Saketh Sai & Arjun Reddy (AP) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Girls (semifinals): U-18 singles: Vandana Murali (TN) bt Asha Nandakumar (Kar) 6-4, 6-3; S. Preethi (TN) bt Pooja K. Kommi Reddy (AP) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. U-14: Prarchi Nadkarni (Mah) bt Supriya Mallaya (Mah) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Poojasree (Kar) bt Sweta Solanki (Del) 6-0, 6-2. U-18 doubles final: Vandana Murali & E. Ashmita (TN) bt Tejaswini (AP) & S. Preethi (TN) 6-3, 6-2.

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