Double for Sandri Gangothri

MYSORE, SEPT. 14. Playing flawless tennis, top-seeded Sandri Gangothri, a product of Park View Tennis Academy, Hyderabad, bagged a double, winning both the under-14 and under-16 singles titles in the Rotary Club of Mysore Mid-Town AITA South Zone sub- junior tennis tournament played at the MTC courts here on Friday.

In the under-14 girls singles final she beat third- seeded Asha Nandakumar (Karnataka) 6-0, 7-5 in an hour and 15 minutes. Later in the evening, Sandri repeated her act by again trouncing Asha 6-2, 6-1 in the girls under-16 singles finals to complete a double.

Playing a consistent allcourt game Sandri took control of the proceedings in the under-14 final by winning the first set in just 15 minutes, breaking her rival's serve in the first, third and fifth games to take the set at 6-0. Asha committed too many unforced errors on both flanks to surrender the initiative. In the second set Asha came back strongly, playing a controlled game. Asha capitalised on Sandri's weak first serve and essayed her deep backhand returns to break her rival's serve in the fourth, sixth and tenth games. Sandri was also equal to the task and broke Asha's serve in the first, fifth and ninth games. The scores were level at 5-5 when Sandri broke Asha's serve to go 6-5 up and then held her serve to wrap up the match and the tie at 7- 5.

Third-seeded Shishir Patil (Karnataka), a product of the KIMS Tennis Academy, Bangalore, played an attacking game on both flanks to register an upset win over the top-seeded Chennai lad R. Parivel of Krishnan Tennis Academy 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the boys under-14 singles semifinals. Shishir impressed with his consistent allcourt game and waited for his rival to make the mistakes by keeping the ball in play, whereas Parivel faltered often when it mattered most.

In the other semifinals, last leg winner and second- seeded local lad S. Prateek (Karnataka) staved off the challenge from Statemate and sixth-seeded Mesheer Vaswani 6-2, 6-1 to set up a title clash with Shishir Patil.

In the boys under-16 semifinals, top-seeded G. Arjun (Karnataka) registered a well earned 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over third-seeded Kiran Kumar (Karnataka). Second-seeded Syed Rahil (Karnataka), a product of the Subash Joseph Tennis Centre, Bangalore, playing an allcourt game, beat a fighting sixth-seeded R. Parivel of Tamil Nadu 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) to cruise into the title round.

The results:

Girls under-14 singles (final): Sandri Gangothri (AP) bt Asha Nandakumar (Kar) 6-0, 7-5.

Girls under-16 singles (final): Sandri Gangothri (AP) bt Asha Nandakumar (Kar) 6-2, 6-1.

Boys under-16 singles (semifinals): Syed Rahil (Kar) bt R. Parivel (TN) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4); G. Arjun (Kar) bt Kiran Kumar (Kar) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Boys under-14 singles (semifinals): S. Prateek (Kar) bt Mesheer Vaswani (Kar) 6-2, 6-1; Shishir Patil (Kar) bt R. Parivel (TN) 6- 4, 2-6, 6-2. Quarterfinals: S. Prateek (Kar) bt R.K. Praveen (Kar) 7-5, 6-4.

Men's doubles (semifinals) (State ranking): Ramachandra Urs/G. Bharat Raj (Mys) bt Manoj Balaji/Harish Upendra (TN) 6-3,6-1; R. Nagaraj/V. Prithvi (Kar) bt Siddarth Sharma/ Amogh Shivram (Kar) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Quarterfinals: R. Nagaraj/V. Prithvi (Kar) bt Kiran Kumar/G. Arjun (Kar) 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 7-5.

Veteran's doubles: (semifinals): Rajan/Sushil Babu (Kar) bt Jaiprakash/Vasudev (Kar) 6-2, 6-3.

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