Balaji conquers Vishnu; four in a row for Prerna

October 11, 2015 12:44 am | Updated 12:44 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Sriram Balaji imposed his high-quality game on defending champion Vishnu Vardhan while Prerna Bhambri sailed like a breeze past Sai Samhitha for her fourth straight title in the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Balaji, runner-up to V.M. Ranjeet in 2008 and currently ranked 422nd in the world, had opted to play the National championship on second thought, which meant that he had to negotiate three rounds of qualifying.

In the event, he did not drop a set, and rarely dropped serve, on way to pocketing the winner’s prize of Rs. 3 lakh.

Vibrant game

Against the 28-year-old Vishnu, who was ranked a career-best 262 in 2012 and has a 4-3 win-loss record against him on the international circuit, the wiry Balaji played his vibrant game consistently, even if he wavered a bit, dropping serve when the flow was in his favour.

“I came to win this title,” said Balaji. “I am happy to have won both the singles and doubles titles [with Ranjeet]. I was happy to play my friend in the final. It was not easy.

“To break his serve three times in the match was special. I dropped serve because I was a bit nervous, being a set and a break up.” It was indeed a keen battle, but Vishnu lost hold as he dropped serve in the twelfth game of the first set with a double-fault, after having saved a set-point earlier.

In the second set, Balaji broke Vishnu for 2-0, but dropped serve in the next game. He quickly regained the initiative by breaking Vishnu’s serve in the fourth game, with a spectacular passing shot on break-point. He served big thereafter to cruise home 7-5, 6-3.

The quality of the contest was quite high and the organisers were quick to remove the hundreds of balloons that decorated the roof of the court once Vishnu complained about being distracted by the constant noise of the balloons bursting because of the heat. As it was proved, Vishnu was troubled more by his opponent, who was razor sharp with his Challenger-level game.

Lopsided

The women’s final was lopsided, as Sai Samhitha was unable to pose a meaningful challenge to Prerna Bhambri, who had won the title the last three years. Prerna conceded a token game after going up 6-0, 5-0 in a quick exercise that left the show court vacant for a long time before the men’s final.

Seeded fourth, Prerna dropped only 16 games in winning five rounds against a string of quality opponents: Mihika Yadav, Vaidehi Chaudhari, Sowjanya Bavisetti, top seed Snehadevi Reddy and former national junior champion Sai Samhitha.

“I want to reach the top-300. I was happy with the way I played this tournament’’, said the 23-year-old Prerna, ranked 554 in the world, unwilling to accept that it was perhaps the easiest of her four national titles.

B.R. Nikshep, the national under-16 champion, graduated to be the under-18 champion, as he showcased his all-round game and remarkable maturity against the energetic game of top seed Aryan Goveas in an entertaining three-setter.

Zeel wins again

Already the national junior girls champion a few times, Zeel Desai, who trains with coach Todd Clark, was crowned yet again after taming the second seed Sathwika Sama in three tough sets.

The results (finals):

Men: Sriram Balaji bt Vishnu Vardhan 7-5, 6-3.

Women: Prerna Bhambri bt Sai Samhitha 6-0, 6-1.

Under-18 boys: B.R. Nikshep bt Aryan Goveas 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Under-18 girls: Zeel Desai bt Sathwika Sama 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

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