Murli in final

NEW DELHI, April 23: Nikhil Murli came back after a first set loss to pull off one of his best wins in a long time bouncing second seeded Amanjot Singh 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-0 in the semi-final of the Adidas junior circuit (second leg) at the DTA courts here on Thursday.

In Friday’s final, he meets top seeded Parantap Chaturvedi and DHAITA colleague who took out Nishank Mishra in straight sets. Meanwhile, top seed Shruti Dhawan ran into trouble in the first set before clawing back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win against Chandigarh’s Harsimran Kaur in the girls under-16 final. There was a change of script even in the sisters’ clash in the girls-under 14 title round as top seeded Ankita Bhambri caved in with surprising compalcence to second seeded Sanaa Bhambri. Second seed Sunil Kumar, as usual, stroked his way elegantly into the boys under-16 final where he meets top seeded Parantap in a replay of the first leg final. With Parantap having to play two consecutive finals, Sunil goes into the Friday clash with the odds heavily in his favour.

Itishree wins
Second seed Itishree Badu defeated fourth seeded Neha Phalpher 6-2, 6-3 to enter the girls under 16 final of the first Salwan Inter-School Tennis Tournament. Top seeded Sanaa Bhambari bt Ankita Bhambari 6-2, 6-3. In the boys u-16 yrs doubles semis, Anil Goswami and Amit Singh beat Paul Novotny and Vidhur 6-3, 7-6 (5) while Ashutosh Singh and Vivian Chhetra beat Mayank Jain and Sohil Sharma 6-3, 6-2.