The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sriram Balaji in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 26, 2005

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Sport - Tennis

Sriram Balaji in final

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Playing true to form Sriram Balaji of Tamil Nadu made short work of A. Daniel Raj of Andhra Pradesh 6-1, 6-4 and set up a title clash with Karnataka's Preetam Roy Mores in the boys' under-16 singles final of the Wearhosue AITA Super Series junior tennis championship at the Century Club courts here on Wednesday.

With two junior titles (Championship Series and Talent Series) under his belt this month, Sriram is proving to be the player to beat on the circuit. Playing aggressively from the start, he quickly overwhelmed his Andhra rival with steady groundstrokes and consistent returns.

Mores rushed his strokes in the first set and made quite a few unforced errors, before finding his line and length.

The girls' under-16 singles final on Thursday promises to be an exciting affair as the two talented Karnataka girls, top seed Akshata B. Raj and V. Poojashree, clash. Poojashree outplayed third seed Sushrutha Reddy 6-0, 6-1 while Akshata, after a shaky start, rallied to beat Supriya Mallaya 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

The results: Boys: under-16 singles: Sriram Balaji (TN) bt A. Daniel Raj (AP) 6-1, 6-4; Preetam Roy Mores (Kar) bt Vikram Reddy (AP) 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. Quarterfinals: Mores bt Bruhat Raker (Kar) 6-1, 7-5; A. Daniel Raj bt A.N. Muddappa (Kar) 6-1, conceded; Sriram Balaji bt Jagadeeshan Kumar (Kar) 6-1, 6-1; B. Vikram Reddy bt Priyank Gangadharan (Mah) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Under-14: semifinals: P. Sudanwa Sitaram (TN) bt N. Sai Keerthi (AP) 6-0, 6-2; Ronak M. (Mah) bt Sameer Paranjpe (Mah) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2). Quarterfinals: Sameer Paranjpe bt Suraj Desai (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; N. Sai Keerthi bt Chetan Pandit 6-1, 6-2; P. Sudanwa Sitaram bt Abhishek P. Shinde 7-5, 6-2.

Girls: under-16: semifinals: V. Poojashree (Kar) bt Sushrutha Reddy (AP) 6-0, 6-1; Akshatha B. Raj (Kar) bt Supriya Mallaya (Mah) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2. Quarterfinals: Akshata B. Raj bt M. Niromshita (AP) 6-2, 6-2; Sushrutha B. Reddy bt Janani Suresh (TN) 6-2, 6-2; V. Poojashree bt Gayathri Krishnan (TN) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Supriya Mallaya (Mah) bt Deepna V. (Mah) 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2.

Under-14: semifinals: Aishwarya Srivastava (Mah) bt Sonia S. Dayal (Mah) 6-3, 6-2; Reshma T. (Mah) bt Nandita Krishnan (TN) 6-4, 6-2. Quarterfinals: Reshma T. bt Nova Patel (Guj) 6-1, 6-1; Nandita Krishnan bt Y.P. Aishwaraya (TN) 6-1, 6-3; Aishwaraya Srivasatava bt Archana V. (AP) 6-4, 6-2.

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