Paramveer Singh Bajwa played with effortless flair — a style seldom seen at this level — to win the boys’ title in the TTT-YMCA ITF juniors (under-18) tournament here on Saturday.
The bigger built Rian Pandole was no pushover, but Paramveer moved him around the court at will and put together crafty, creative points to triumph 6-2, 6-3.
Zeel Desai took the girls’ crown in a match closer than the scoreline 6-3, 7-6(4) suggests, quelling a spirited challenge from Shivani Amineni.
The very first rally of the boys’ final gave an indication of what was to follow. Paramveer, having made his way to the net, casually ran down a lob and flicked one of his own on the half-turn — this was no loopy, time-winning defensive lob, but one of exact offensive trajectory designed to win the point.
Double breakParamveer earned himself the security of the double-break in the first set, stepping in and teeing off on a couple of returns, to get to 5-2 before serving it out.
He then went up another double break, but Pandole, to his credit, didn’t give it away. A momentary lapse in Paramveer’s concentration allowed him to break for the first time.
Pandole then played an incredible reflex volley to hold serve. But this was from 1-4 down, and Paramveer — a smile never far from his face — soon returned to his high level.
The girls’ final, which had started at the same time, took longer to finish. Zeel often pulled away from her younger, less experienced opponent, but nearly every time Shivani fought back to make things tight.
Zeel played the bigger points better — a large part of which involved not allowing Shivani the space and time to hurt her with the drop shot — and held firm when tested to prevail.
The results (final): Boys: Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Rian Pandole 6-2, 6-3.
Girls: Zeel Desai bt Shivani Amineni 6-3, 7-6(4).
