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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, MAY 1: Vikram Aditya Menon TN and Deepa Chakrabarty Guj earned their maiden national-level titles in the AITA Open Junior Ranking tennis tournament for the under-16 and under-14 organised by Lions Club of Andheri here.
While the two savoured their under-14 successes, Pratim Parekh Mah and Nandita Chandrasekhar TN lifted the under-16 trophies at Practennis, Andheri today. Parekh, in fact, did a double by winning the under-18 State Ranking final as well.
Nandita repeated her act in the all-India tournament at Bangalore last week by demolishing Samrata Sekhar 6-3, 6-2. The left-handed Parekh, with Chandra Shekar Mohanty Del threatening another three-setter, won 7-6 7-3, 6-3, dropping three match points in the process.
Ahmedabad8217;s Deepa Chakrabarty upstaged top seed Lata Asudani of Nagpur 6-4, 6-2. Asudani, a break up and holding four game points at 4-3 in the first set, lost from that position of comfort.
Menon, plagued by seven double faults, still managed to out-slug Sujay MahadevanMah 7-6 7-1, 6-3 in an hour and 40 minutes 8212; the longest of the four finals. Coached by father Sukesh at Ace Pro, Nungabakkam, in Chennai, the net-rushing Menon and the steady Mahadevan traded two breaks each in the first set before stretching the issue to the tie-breaker.
That Menon finished the set 7-1 with minimum of fuss showed his domination despite the close score. A timely ace aided the Chennai 13-year-old from going one up.
The situation was similar to the first in the second set after two breaks each. A change in courts, with Menon leading 4-3, seemed to work in his favour. A break happened, thanks to a backhand crosscourt winner, and the next game was swept away by Menon, who had dismissed the second and third seeds earlier in the tournament.
Results all finals
Boys8217; under-16: Pratim Parekh Mah bt Chandra Shekar Mohanty Del 7-6 7-3, 6-3. Under-14: Vikram Aditya Menon TN bt Sujay Mahadevan Mah 7-6 7-1, 6-3.
Girls8217; under-16: C Nandita TN bt Samrata Sekhar TN6-3, 6-2. Under-14: Deepa Chakrabarty Guj bt Lata Asudani Mah 6-4, 6-2.
Maharashtra State Ranking
Boys under-18: Pratim Parekh bt Kedar Shah 6-0, 6-7 5-7, 3-0 conceded. Under-12: Siddharth Chedda bt Krishank Shah 6-3, 6-3. Under-10: Arnav Jain bt Agnel Gladwin 6-2, 6-3.
Girls under-18: Medini Sharma bt Rekha Natarajan 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Under-12: Kartiki Bhat bt Nalini Mallaya 6-1, 6-1. Under-10: Shibani Shah bt Ayushi Sinha 9-3.
Doubles: Boys under-18: Abhijit Muzumdar/ Kedar Shah bt Gaurav Kumar/ Jai Arora 7-5, 6-4. Under-16: Harshit Sharma/ Rohan Gajjar bt Saurabh Singh/ Aakash Sharma 6-4, 6-7 3-7, 6-4. Under-14: Krishne Tanna/ Jai Mehta bt Saurabh Kohli/ Vikram Aditya Menon 6-3, 6-4. Under-12: Krishank Shah/ Siddharth Chedda bt Richendra Nanda/ Rohan Gide 6-2, 6-3. Under-10: P Chouglekar/ Agnel Gladwin bt D Das/ Swapnil Akut 8-1.
Girls under-16: Johann Fernandes/ Shraddha Lodha bt Lata Asudani/ Rati Kumar 9-8 8-6. Under-14: Nivedita Venkatesh/ Sharanya Pattabhi bt Krushmi Chedda/Kartiki Bhat 6-1, 7-5.
