The best junior in the country, Zeel Desai gave glimpses of her ever strengthening game as she survived a match point to beat Bhuvana Kalva 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(0) in the women’s semifinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.
On a day when the men’s top seed Suraj Prabodh overcame spells of tentative play to beat the crafty and consistent Manish Sureshkumar, Dalwinder Singh put his explosive game on display to outplay second seed Haadin Bava.
The fine performance of the men apart, it was the women who kept the attention of the spectators on the show court. For, it was the country’s two best girls Zeel Desai and Mahak Jain who set up a title clash in the women’s event.
While the 18-year-old Zeel had to be at her best, Mahak was fluent in her semifinal against Tanisha Kashyap. The 16-year-old Mahak has dropped only 18 games in all in her first four rounds so far.
Zeel complicated matters after leading 4-1 in the first two sets, as she went through spells of inconsistent play. Zeel showed the ability to rise to the occasion as she handled the tie-break like a top professional while Bhuvana rued the missed chances in the three-hour battle.
Bhuvana did save a match point on her serve in the tenth game, but her erratic return cost her the match, after she held a match point in the twelfth game.
There was some consolation for Haadin Bava, who hits the ball on the rise with telling impact, as he won the men’s doubles title with Aryan Goveas against the Sood twins, Chandril and Lakshit.
The results:
Men (semifinals): Suraj Prabodh bt Manish Sureshkumar 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2; Dalwinder Singh bt Haadin Bava 7-5, 6-0.
Doubles (final): Aryan Goveas & Haadin Bava bt Chandril Sood & Lakshit Sood 6-4, 6-4.
Women (semifinals): Zeel Desai bt Bhuvana Kalva 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(0); Mahak Jain bt Tanisha Kashyap 6-2, 6-1.
Doubles (final): Shweta Rana & Snehadevi Reddy bt Sai Dedeepya & Sara Yadav 6-3, 6-3.
Boys (semifinals): Sacchitt Sharma bt Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy 6-2, 2-6, 7-5; Dhruv Sunish bt Siddhant Banthia 6-4, 6-3.
Doubles (final): Siddhant Banthia & Megh Bhargav Patel bt Atharva Sharma & Dhruv Sunish 6-2, 1-6, 10-6.
Girls (semifinals): Akanksha Bhan bt Sathwika Sama 6-1, 3-6, 6-4; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Tanisha Kashyap 7-6(4), 7-5.
Doubles (final): Tanisha Kashyap & Sravya Shivani bt Akanksha Bhan & Vaidehi Chaudhari 6-3, 7-5.
