Top seed Ankita Raina’s triple eclipsed R. Ramkumar’s dominating win in men's singles as the tennis competitions of the 35th National Games concluded here on Sunday.
The Gujarat girl won the singles title after getting the better of Prarthana Thombare of Maharashtra 7-5, 6-4. Later, she clinched the doubles along with Eetee Maheta, beating Nidhi Chilumula and Sowjanya Bavisetti of Telangana 6-2, 6-1.
Ankita had anchored Gujarat to the team gold earlier this week.
Tamil Nadu’s top seed Ramkumar beat second-seeded Sriram Balaji 6-2, 6-4 to win men’s singles title.
Saketh Myneni and Vishnu Vardhan of Telangana prevailed over Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Vijay Sundar of Tamil Nadu 6-7, 6-3, 11-9 to claim the doubles gold.
Ankita was far cry from her usual dominating self in the final as she found Prarthana a tough opponent.
The bizzare first set saw nine service breaks with Ankita committing far too many unforced errors, giving enough leeway for her opponent. Prarthana broke Ankita at love in the second game and held her service to take a 3-0 lead in the second set. But Ankita clawed back into the match as she broke Prarthana in the fifth game when the Maharashtra girl chipped a shot into the net.
The weather took its toll on Prarthana who suffered cramps. Ankita made Prarthana work hard for her points and the long rallies invariably ended in unforced errors from the Maharashtra girl. Ankita broke Prarthana in the seventh game to take the lead and broke her again in the ninth game to win the set 6-3.
Ramkumar played flawlessly and was consistent with his serves and ground strokes which often brooked no challenge from Sriram Balaji.
Landing a huge percentage of his first serves in, Ramkumar rarely gave his opponent a chance, and the first break-point he faced in the entire match was when he was serving for the match in the second set.
The results: Finals:Men: R. Ramkumar (TN) bt Sriram Balaji (TN) 6-2, 6-4.
Doubles: Saketh Myneni & Vishu Vardhan (Tel) bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Vijay Sundar (TN) 6-7(1), 6-3, 11-9.
Women: Ankita Raina (Guj) bt Prarthana Thombare (Mah) 7-5, 6-4.
Doubles: Ankita Raina & Eetee Maheta (Guj) bt Nidhi Chilumula & Sowjanya Bavisetti (Tel) 6-2, 6-1.
