Qualifier Saketh Myneni of Andhra Pradesh upset the applecart of top-seeded Vijay Sundar Prashanth of Tamil Nadu 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to enter the men's singles final of the JGI-AITA senior tournament at the KSLTA courts here on Friday.
Saketh will run into Mohit Mayur, also from Tamil Nadu, in the final. Mohit stormed into the title round with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Mohammed Fariz in just 52 minutes.
Sowjanya vs Natasha
The women's final will be a battle between Andhra Pradesh's third seed B. Sowjanya and Goa's Natasha Palha, the fourth seed.
While Sowjanya ended the fine run of qualifier Treta Bhattacharya of West Bengal 7-6(5), 7-6(7), Natasha conquered second-seeded Zainab Ali Sajjad (AP), who made far too many errors, at 6-4, 6-2.
Crisp volleys
Saketh Myneni, studying in Alabama University, matched his fancied rival stroke for stroke.
Serving well, the AP lad often caught Vijay Sundar stranded with his crisp volleys.
After losing the first set 3-6, Saketh broke the top seed in the 10th game of the second set, after trading breaks early on, to take the match into the decider.
Turning it around
Down 4-5 in the third, Saketh turned things around with some pleasing winners on either flanks and coupled with Vijay Sundar's spate of mistakes clinched the third at 7-5.
The results (semifinals):
Men: Singles: Saketh Myneni (AP) bt Vijay Sundar Prashanth (TN) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5; Mohit Mayur (TN) bt Mohd. Fariz (TN) 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles: Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Md. Fariz (TN) bt Kiran Nandakumar & Ravikiran Bhat (Kar) 6-0, 6-4; Mohit Mayur & Elvin bt Vinod Gowda & Sourabh Singh 6-4, 6-1.
Women: Singles: B. Sowjanya (AP) bt Treta Bhattacharya (WB) 7-6(5), 7-6(7); Natasha Palha (Goa) bt Zainab Ali Sajjad (AP) 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles: Sharmada Balu & Sheetal Goutham bt. U. Shalaka & Abhilasha Ahuja 6-1, 6-3.
