Chennai: Top seed Krishna Hooda of Chandigarh amongst the Boys and unseeded Reshma Maruri of Karnataka amongst the Girls proved to be the deserving title winners of the MGC AITA National Series (Under 18) Tennis Tournament held at the Madras Gymkhana Club Courts.
In the finals, Krishna Hooda came back from a set down to defeat Karan Singh of Haryana in three closely fought sets as the score read 4-6, 7-6(5),7-5. Both the players slugged it out from the baseline throughout the match. While the tall Karan displayed fluent serves and groundstrokes, Krishna possessing strong forehand but a weak backhand displayed excellent court coverage and tenacity.
In the first set, Karan broke Krishna’s serve in the very first game and then held serve to go ahead 2-0 and then 4-2. Krishna then began to slow down the game and play steady tennis as Karan lapsed into a series of unforced errors and the score was soon 4 all.
In the ninth game, Krishna led 40-15. With the help of inexplicable errors and a backhand down the line winner, Karan broke Krishna’s serve against the run of play and then held his own serve comfortably to close out the set 6-4. In the second set, both players held serve twice and broke each other twice and the score was 4 all. Krishna playing tentatively but managed to hold serve to lead 6-5. Karan served with confidence to level the score 6 all.
In a tense tie break, Krishna edged past Karan 7-5 to take the set and level the match. In the beginning of the third set, Karan was down 3-5. At 5 all Karan served two double faults and conceded the lead to Krishna who made no mistake while serving for the match to win the set 7-5 and lift the title.
In the Girls final, unseeded Reshma Maruri beat second-seeded Prerna Vichare of Maharashtra,, who was carrying niggling shoulder injury. Prerna did play with grit to take the first set 6-3. Prerna dropped her serve in the first game of the second set before conceding due to injury. This was Reshma’s first-ever National Series title.
The winners received 75 AITA ranking points while the runners would receive 50 AITA ranking points.C. Venugopal, President and T.Gunasagaran, Honorary Secretary of Madras Gymkhana Club gave away the prizes.
Results:
Boys U18: Krishna Hooda (CH) bear Karan Singh (HR) 4-6,7-6(5), 7-5
Girls U18: Reshma Maruri (KR) beat Prerna Vichare (MH) 6-3,1-0 conceded.