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Ratnika is champion

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: Rajeev Bhatt

ALL SMILES: Ratnika Batra, who won the DSCL National Women’s Tennis championship.

NEW DELHI: Ratnika Batra bounced back from an indifferent start to outplay Shweta Chandra Rana 6-3, 6-0 in the final of the DSCL National women’s tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

The 14-year-old Ratnika, a trainee of coach Aditya Sachdeva at the Mahesh Bhupathi Team Tennis centre at the Siri Fort Sports Complex, was able to assert her authority once she settled into her rhythm.

A member of the Indian under-14 and under-16 teams, Ratnika was in a spot of bother at the start, as the diminutive Shweta hammered winners all around her, hitting the drive volleys with particular relish, in enjoying a dream start.

Ratnika faced a breakpoint in the third game while trailing 0-2, but averted any further mishap with a strong game and considerable resolve.

Once she won her first game, Ratnika was in a cruise mode as she allowed just one more game for her opponent who lost the zeal as the contest meandered to a predictable finish in 64 minutes.

While Ratnika hit with force and varied her range, not hesitating to throw the ball up into an orbit, Shweta lost her grip as she tended to err quite a lot in going for her shots.

Ratnika, a champion in the under-14 and under-16 events in the last edition of the National championship at the same venue, was able to maintain her record of not having conceded more than three games to any opponent along the way.

She dropped only 12 games in all to five opponents, including three to the top-seeded Shalini Sahoo in the semifinals.

It was a memorable run for the 15-year-old Shweta, but she lacked the sting in her serves to take her fine spell to the desired goal.

Ratnika was assured of a wild card in the main draw of the $100,000 ITF women’s tournament to be held in Bangalore in February 2009, apart from being presented a cash prize of Rs. 30,000.

Shweta, who has recently been training with coach Shalini Thakur, had to be content with Rs. 20,000.

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