The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Double delight for Kyra

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 17, 2006
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Double delight for Kyra

Sports Reporter

Suresh Krishna beats Priyank in boys' final

PHOTO: V. GANESAN

DREAM FINISH: Suresh Krishna and Kyra Shroff, the winners in the under-18 boys and girls' sections respectively.

CHENNAI: The dream run of Kyra Shroff, a wild card entrant, culminated in the girls' singles and doubles titles in the Wilson-TTT International Tennis Federation junior (under-18) tournament at TTT courts, YMCA College of Physical Education, here on Saturday.

In the girls' singles final, Kyra outwitted Rashmi Teltumbde 6-1, 6-2.

Later, she and Kelsey Sundaram quelled the challenge of Nandita Krishnan and Unnati Purushotham 6-4, 6-3 to win the doubles crown.

Kyra, who will be turning 14 next month, finished the first set with a forehand down-the-line winner.

In the second set, Rashmi's powerful returns from the backcourt suggested that the contest might stretch to the third set. But that was not to be. Rashmi broke Kyra in the first game and held her serve for a 2-0 lead. But Kyra, a trainee at the Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy, hit back strongly to take the net six games to win the match.

Error-prone final

A.S. Suresh Krishna surprised himself with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 win over local lad Priyank Gangadharan in an error-prone boys' final.

Suresh took the first set without any fuss. The first two games of the second set saw extended rallies as both players produced some riveting stuff from the baseline.

Breaking Suresh's serve in the third game at love for a 2-1 lead, Priyank could have raised the bar in his next service game. But the 16-year-old from Chennai messed up a forehand volley, hitting it wide when he had a game point.

Maiden title

Suresh, coached by C.V. Nagaraj at School of Power Tennis at Hyderabad, played within himself and held his serves to win his maiden ITF junior title.

The singles and doubles winners collected 30 and 20 points respectively. C.N. Ramachandran, Founder Trustee, Triangle Tennis Trust, gave away the prizes. Birbal Wadhera, the chief referee and R. Rangarajan, chief of umpires, were also present.

The results: Boys: Singles (final): A.S. Suresh Krishna bt Priyank Gangadharan 6-1, 6-3. Semifinals: Priyank Gangadharan bt Ankit Sachdeva 6-2, 6-2; Suresh Krishna bt Mansingh Athare 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles (final): Tariq Jacob & Sriram Balaji bt Navaneetha Kannan & Keijiro Yasumi 6-7(5), 4-1 (conceded).

Girls: Singles (final): Kyra Shroff bt Rashmi Teltumbde 6-1, 6-2; Semifinals: Kyra Shroff bt T. Nilaya 6-2, 6-2; Rashmi Teltumbde bt Kelsey Sundaram 6-4, 6-3. Doubles (final): Kyra Shroff & Kelsey Sundaram bt Nandita Krishnan & Unnati Purushotham 6-4, 6-3.