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Ratnika, Shweta set up final

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Wild card Ratnika Batra outclassed the top-seeded Shalini Sahoo 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals of the DSCL National women’s tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

In the final, Ratnika will be challenged by qualifier Shweta Chandra Rana, the diminutive local girl who won everyone’s heart with a 6-1, 7-6(4) victory over the seasoned seventh seed, Geeta Manohar.

For sheer cool temperament and a sound game that was not shackled by anything, Ratnika stood out.

She had conceded only six games in all in the earlier three rounds, and she continued to assert her authority by dictating terms against Shalini who could not eke out more than three games from her stocky opponent.

Though she could hit clean strokes on either flank, Ratnika mixed up the pace and length of her shots, to keep the opponent guessing.

She served very well, but it was her strong returns that shook the confidence of Shalini and blew her out of court.

Having won the under-14 and under-16 titles in the last edition of the National championship, and having missed the under-18 event this time, Ratnika would be keen to clinch the women’s title on Saturday morning.

Shweta’s good show

Shweta Chandra Rana continued with her spirited approach. She was intense and moved hard to pack a punch in her shots.

Once she got off to a dream start, racing to a 4-0 lead, Shweta was confidence personified.

In the second set, Shweta was unable to drive home the advantage when she had a matchpoint on her serve in the ninth game.

Geeta played a lot more relaxed from then on and cracked winners to gain a 6-5 lead.

However, Geeta was unable to serve out the set.

Instead she got broken at love, with a string of errors including a doublefault in the 12th game to make it easy for Shweta.

Geeta was unable to control her errors in the tie-break, and Shweta had little trouble in converting her second matchpoint, that came nearly 30 minutes after the first had been squandered.

In the doubles final, there was some consolation for Shalini Sahoo as she partnered Treta Bhattacharya to beat Arantxa Andrady and Sayali Bhilare 6-1, 6-3.

The winning team collected Rs.14,000 and the runner-up pocketed Rs.10,000.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): Ratnika Batra bt Shalini Sahoo 6-2, 6-1; Shweta Chandra Rana bt Geeta Manohar 6-1, 7-6(4).

Doubles (final): Treta Bhattacharya and Shalini Sahoo bt Arantxa Andrady and Sayali Bhilare 6-1, 6-3.

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