Mohanty, Nandita reign supreme

The Chandigarh player was a disappointment in the final. Much was expected of him as he looked a better player than most others in the field. But in the final he looked at loss against the 16-year-old Delhi player who simply went from strength to strength and carved up a commendable 6-2, 6-3 victory.

Mohanty, on the other hand showed that the shift from Assam to New Delhi to pursue a tennis career has worked very well with him. He came up with good ground strokes and on the odd occasion showed a deft hand by lobbing the net-rushing Amanjyot.

Mohanty broke the second-seeded player in the very first service game, held hisserve and broke again to race to a 3-0 lead. Amanjyot fought back and forced a break in the very next game, but again failed to hold his own serve. Mohanty won the first set 6-2.

Mohanty needed just another break in the match to take the final comfortably.The girls final was as uninspiring as the boys show. Nandita, the top seed here, ensured that she climbed up the AITA ranking with today’s win. Ranked fourth nationally, she surged into the second spot with her achievement in this tourney.

Her Tamil Nadu opponent Samrita Shekar made far too many errors to have a realistic chance in the final. The second-seeded Samrita, in fact, had a tough three set match yesterday. However, today, she was unable to recover from the loss of the first set and lost 6-4, 6-4.