The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Nimisha and Saurabh clinch titles

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Nimisha and Saurabh clinch titles

Principal Correspondent

TENNIS / Winners bag 30 ITF points each; next leg in Hyderabad

— Photo: R. Ragu

WINNING SMILE: Nimisha Mohan and Saurabh Singh emerged triumphant in the ITF junior tournament in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: For her short frame — nearly five feet four inches — Nimisha Mohan has the accuracy and shot-making abilities normally associated with taller players.

The 16-year-old from Bangalore made light of the challenge of Sanjana Sharon Paul 6-4, 6-1 to bag the girls’ crown in the India Cements-International Tennis Federation junior tournament, which concluded at the Triangle Tennis Trust courts here on Saturday. Saurabh Singh nearly choked after nearing the home stretch, but recovered in time to put it across A. Muddappa 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a see-saw battle to clinch the boys’ title in two hours and 40 minutes.

Sharon kept pace with Nimisha for most part of the first set, repeatedly attacking and going for the corners. In fact, Sharon did give a good account of herself despite losing the first set.

Getting it wrong

However, the local lass’s game went for a six in the second. She started to spray her shots everywhere but inside the singles court while Nimisha did exactly what she has been doing all along the tournament — keep the ball in play and deep. The ploy worked perfectly. Nimisha ran up a 4-0 lead and was hardly troubled thereafter.

The boys’ final was between two equally talented hard-hitting youngsters. None deserved to lose. Muddappa fought valiantly in the decider. Serving for the match at 5-2, Saurabh choked, as he himself admitted.

Flatters to deceive

Muddappa saved four match points in the 10th game to level the scores at 5-5 and he then took a medical break to attend to his left foot. When it looked the match was heading for a tie-breaker, Muddappa flunked. At 5-6, the 17-year-old committed two double faults — he threw his racquet for the first and thereby earned a warning from chair umpire Ganesh Ram — to literally gift the winner’s trophy to his opponent.

The boys’ and girls’ singles winner and runner-up collected 30 and 20 ITF points respectively. R. Rangarajan was the Chief of Umpires. M. Kumaresh, Senior Manager, Marketing Services, India Cements Ltd., and Vice-President, Chennai Football Association, gave away the prizes.

The main draw of the next ITF event begins in Hyderabad on Monday.

The results (finals): (Indians unless mentioned): Boys (singles): Saurabh Singh bt A. Muddappa 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Girls (singles): Nimisha Mohan bt Sanjana Sharon Paul 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles: Aishwarya Agarwal/Sharmada Balu bt Sayali Bhilare/T. Neesha (Mas) 6-4, 6-4.

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