Eklavya topples top seed Vikrant to clinch boys’ under-16 singles title

It was Vikrant who made a bright start in the final match and took a 2-0 lead. However,Eklavya fought back and prevented Vikrant from making it 3-0. Thereafter,both the players displayed superb attacking tennis and refused to slow down. At the end of the tenth game,the score was locked at 5-5. However,Vikrant kept his nervers and broke Eklavya’s serve to take the set 7-5.

Eklavya,however,made a stunning recovery and hit some powerful forehands from the baseline to put a brake on Vikrant’s charge. He grew in confidence with every game and overshadowed Vikrant with his attacking show. In the end,he took the second set 6-2.

Eklavya continued in similar fashion in the final set also and took a 5-3 lead. However,Vikrant made a superb comeback and levelled the score at 5-5. At 6-6 in the final set,Eklavya took a 3-0 lead and kept his nerves to win the tie-breaker 7-4 to clinch the title.

Meanwhile,Prinkle Singh eased her way past Jannat Khurana to win the girls’ under-16 singles title 6-4,6-1. Prinkle who became the under-12 national champion a few months ago,looked in great touch and put on a stellar show to clinch the title.

Despite taking an unassailable 4-1 lead in the first set,she made some unforced errors to let Jannat win the next two games. But she recovered from this and maintained her lead to win the set 6-4. She was unstoppable in the second set where she lost just one game to beat Jannat 6-1.

In the girls’ under-12 final,Kiran Kalkal faced a stiff challenge from Alisha Menon but managed to beat her 7-5,7-6 (3) in a hard-fought encounter. Alisha pushed Kiran to the brink in both the sets but lacked the sting to challenge the latter’s superior game.

On the other hand,Divesh Gehlot came up with a clinical performance to beat Onkar Apte 6-0,6-1 to clinch the boys’ under-12 title.

Results:

Finals: Boys: U-12: Divesh Gehlot bt. Onkar Apte 6-0,6-1; Girls: U-12: Kiran Kalkal bt. Alisha Menon 7-5,7-6 (3); Boys: U-16: Eklavya Singh bt. Vikrant Dahiya 5-7,6-2,7-6 (4); Girls” U-16: Prinkle Singh bt. Jannat Khurana 6-4,6-1.