The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Rashmi, Sumeet win

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 29, 2006

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Rashmi, Sumeet win

Special Correspondent

MUMBAI : Rashmi Teltumbde called the shots from the baseline against hard-hitting Kyra Shroff to clinch the girls' under-14 singles title in the Asian junior ranking tennis tournament. The top seeded Mumbai girl won 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 after a rousing two-hours plus final at the Ranade Tennis Centre hardcourts in the morning. Sumeet Shinde kept his nerve and played to his strengths against doubles partner and friend Jugal Marfatia in the boys' under-14 singles final, winning comfortably 6-1, 6-2.

Spot of bother

Rashmi, coached by Kedar Tembe, ran into spot of bother in the second set but displayed poise and self-belief to force a hard-earned victory worth 50 Super Series points and entry into Asian under-14 series Masters final. Kyra gained 40 points, plus 10 points for finishing second best in the doubles, partnering Aishwarya Shrivastava.

Sumeet Shinde kept Jugal Marfatia on the defensive with ceaseless strokeplay, keeping the ball in play with double-handed backhand swats and topspin forehands. The lopsided scoreline is surprising, considering both finalists belong to Pune and play doubles together. Maybe the long wait for the final to commence, due to placings matches scheduled on various courts, drained Jugal's mental energy and disrupted rhythm.

Dictating rallies

Shinde, training under Nandan Bal, took charge early on and dictated rallies and points. Jugal, coached by Hemant Bendre, appeared to have woken up late in the second set after being 0-4 down at one stage, but by then the initiative had slipped out of his hands against a confident rival following up on serve and alert enough to vary pace and lengths of returns.

The results (U-14, finals): singles: Boys: Sumeet Shinde bt Jugal Marfatia 6-1, 6-2. Girls: Rashmi Teltumbde bt Krya Shroff 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.

Doubles: Girls: Ankita Rana/Mehek bt Kyra Shroff/Aishwarya Shrivastava 7-6 (3), 7-5. Boys: Vaidik Munshaw/Samip Mehta bt Sumeet Shinde/Jugal Marfatia 7-6 (5), 6-3.