The Indian team wound up its campaign on the grass courts of Wimbledon in style by winning the under-14 boys doubles title and finishing runner-up in the girls’ doubles, in the HSBC Road to Wimbledon National tennis finals on Saturday.
Siddhant Banthia, who had earlier won the boys’ title by beating top-seeded Maxime Trenikhin of Middlesex in three sets, combined with Adil Kalyanpur in the doubles finals to beat Jake Norris and Pierce Widdecombe 6-3, when the latter retired.
In the girls’ doubles final, Aarja Chakraborty and Shivani Ingle were beaten by the top-seeded Emily Appleton and Neil Miller 6-3, 6-2.
Adil Kalyanpur had lost in the quarterfinals of the singles event, after having topped his group in the league phase in the singles event. Aarja Chakraborty had lost to the eventual champion Neil Miller in the quarterfinals. Shivani Ingle had failed to make the main knock-out draw from the league phase, but won the consolation final in a draw of 16.
Praise from coach Coach Vishaal Uppal praised all the four players for capitalising on the chance to compete on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon, and picked Siddhant Banthia for special praise.