The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Prerna to lock horns with Sonia in the final

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Saturday, Aug 18, 2007
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Prerna to lock horns with Sonia in the final

Sports Reporter

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

FIERCE DISPLAY: Prerna Bhambri did well to brush aside the challenge of T. Nilaya for a berth in final.

Chennai: After a passive period of play upfront, the girls’ under-18 semifinal of the adidas-MCC junior national tennis championship between Prerna Bhambri and T. Nilaya developed into a good contest. Prerna won 7-6(2), 6-3 at MCC, on Friday, to set up a meeting in the final with 14th seed Sonia Dayal, who beat seventh seed Nandita Krishnan 0-6, 6-3, 6-0 in her semifinal match.

In the boys’ under-18 semifinal, fourth seed Sriram Balaji combined style and accuracy to defeat top seed Vijayant Malik 6-1, 6-3. Playing with a sort of flair that is uncommon at this level, Sriram was right on top after claiming the first three games.

The fourth seed dictated points from the baseline and closed out points with some deft volleying. He will meet second seed Abhijeet Tiwari who prevailed over third seed Ronak Manuja 6-1, 7-6(3).

Initial struggle

Prerna and Nilaya struggled with their first serves in the first set.

The ninth seeded Prerna’s slice serve was ineffective, but she made up for it with her cross-court winners. She constructed her points well in the tie-break and picked the right shots to close out points.

The Nandita-Sonia match was intriguing. After being completely outplayed in every department in the first set, Sonia stitched her game together remarkably in the second and third.

Nandita was comfortable setting up points near the baseline in the first set, hitting some crisp winners. The left-handed Sonia slowly regrouped in the second and grew in confidence with each game. The errors dried up and the third set was won with surprising ease.

Second seeds Ronit Bisht and Digvijay Singh were the boys’ under-14 doubles winners, while Namitha Bal and Natasha Palha (seeded second) were the girls’ under-14 doubles winners.

The results: Singles: Semifinals:

Boys: Under-18: 4-Sriram Balaji (TN) bt 1-Vijayant Malik (TN) 6-1, 6-3; 2-Abhijit Tiwari (Chg) bt 3-Ronak Manuja (Mah) 6-1, 7-6(3). Under-14: 2-Ronit Bisht (Del) bt 7-R.Ramkumar (TN) 6-3, 6-3; 8-Rakshay Thakkar (Mah) bt 5-Surya Pawan (AP) 7-5, 6-1

Girls: Under-18: 9-Prerna Bhambri (Del) bt 6-T.Nilaya (AP) 7-6(2), 6-3; 14-Sonia Dayal (Mah) bt 7-Nandita Krishnan (TN) 0-6, 6-3, 6-0. Under-14: 1-Rishika Sunkara (Del) bt Sharmada Balu (Kar) 6-1, 6-2; 7-Ankita Raina (Guj) bt 8-Bhavana Suresh (AP) 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles: Finals:

Boys: Under-14: 2-Ronit Bisht/ Digvijay Singh bt 4-Siddharth Rawat/Rakshay Thakkar 6-4, 7-6(4).

Girls: Under-18: Tanvi Shah/ Kelsey Sundaram bt Gedrika Kapoor/ Prerna Bhambri 6-2, 6-1. Under-14: 2-Namitha Bal/ Natasha Palha bt 1-Prarthana Thumbri/ Vaidehi Bhagwat 7-5, 4-6, 6-0.

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