The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sanam Singh proves his class once again

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Saturday, Jan 14, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Sanam Singh proves his class once again

Special Correspondent

Another double crown for Sanaa Bhambri

NEW DELHI: Sanam Singh proved his class once more and Sanaa Bhambri won a double crown yet again, in the Adidas ITF junior grade `II' tennis tournament that concluded at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

The 18-year-old Sanam regrouped his game after losing the first set against Ivan Anikanov of Ukraine to win 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-0.

Sanam started on a wrong note, dropping serve at love following three doublefaults in the second game. He bounced back with a break back in the ninth game, but tended to struggle in his service games as the set went into tie-break. It was a below-par fare in the tie-breaker, in which he trailed 1-5, before losing the set with a weak return.

Sanam, the reigning Asian and Asia-Oceania junior champion, was at his fluent best in the next two sets as he served and stroked with usual flourish, and eventually shut out the powerful opponent with a touch of arrogance.

Sanam fired 16 aces in all, as compared to the four by his opponent, and served just three doublefaults in the last two sets as compared to the six in the first.

Sanam later joined hands with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and the two-time Asian junior champions had little trouble asserting themselves against Rupesh Roy and Sumit Prakash Gupta.

In the girls' section, it was a creditable show by Sanaa, as she won a double crown for the second time in a fortnight following her success in Chandigarh.

The Delhi girl faced stiff resistance from her doubles partner, the top-seeded Ksenia Palkina of Kyrgyzstan, before prevailing in three sets thanks to her admirable consistency.

The results (finals):

Boys: Sanam Singh bt Ivan Anikanov (Ukr) 6-7(2), 6-1, 6-0; Doubles: Sanam and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Sumit Prakash Gupta and Rupesh Roy 6-3, 6-4.

Girls: Sanaa Bhambri bt Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) 6-1, 1-6, 6-2; Doubles: Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) and Sanaa bt Nadine Fahoum and Julia Glushko (Isr) 6-1, 6-1.

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