The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sudanwa Sitaram emerges champion

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Sudanwa Sitaram emerges champion

Special Correspondent

GURGAON: Sudanwa Sitaram asserted himself against Akash Wagh 6-4, 6-0 to clinch the boys’ title in the ITF grade II junior tennis tournament at the NTA Complex here on Saturday.

Sticking to the basics, Sudanwa, the 16-year-old lad from Coimbatore who trains at the Mahesh Bhupathi Centre in Bangalore, capitalised on the erratic game of his fellow trainee, in winning his maiden singles title at this level.

With the talented left-hander Akash bouncing back from a 1-3 deficit to take a 4-3 lead, it looked as if the match was hotting up on a particularly cold and foggy morning, but it was not to be.

From having a game point for a 5-4 lead, Akash lost his way. For someone who had stretched Dmitry Tursunov of Russia to a tie-break in the ATP Tour event in Mumbai in 2006 apart from taking a set off Davide Sanguinetti more recently, Akash was not disciplined enough to make a fight of it.

On his part, Sudanwa kept it simple and gathered 100 ITF junior points that would considerably boost his world rank.

Coach M. Balachandran who was quite pleased to have both his trainees in the final was not too happy with the manner in which Akash played.

The ITF Development Officer, Doug MacCurdy, who had been associated with the Chinese tennis for two years, and presently on a stint to help Indian tennis, was on hand to watch the proceedings as the chief guest.

Piven triumphs

In the girls’ final, the unseeded Piven Ganna of Ukraine proved too strong for the seventh-seeded Rashmi Teltumbe, who had done very well to make the final, but lacked the resources to provide an even contest.

The results (finals):

Boys (U-18): Sudanwa Sitaram bt Akash Wagh 6-4, 6-0.

Girls (U-18): Piven Ganna (Ukr) bt Rashmi Teltumbe 6-2, 6-4.

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