Sunil, Sonal script swinging success

Top seed Sonal Phadke once again asserted her supremacy in the girls’ under-16 event as she brushed aside Liza Pereira, also of Mumbai, 6-0, 6-0. Incidentally, Sonal had scored a similar drubbing over her opponent in the final at Practennis, Andheri.

Benjamin, however, failed in his bid of an encore. “Everything went wrong for me today,” the ex-BAT (Britannia-Amritraj Tennis) trainee said after his 62-minute battle. “The first few games were decisive. I lost them. That made things verydifficult.”

It was for the seventh time both Benjamin and Sunil were clashing in a National Ranking event. And both had scored three times over the other before this match.

“He (Benjamin) is the only under-16 player on the circuit who gives me a tough time,” revealed the 15-year-old Sunil. “But today, he was not playing well.”

While Sunil started the match with an attacking game, Benjamin struggled to find his rhythm. With the latter making a lot of unforced errors, the Chandigarh lad changed tactics and started indulging in baseline rallies which eventually won him the game.

But a fighter to the core, Benjamin did try to make things difficult for the match favourite. At 5-0, Benjamin took the next two games, surviving a match point along the way. But Sunil was never in trouble as Benjamin did himself in with a double fault to see his opponent pocket Rs 2,500 in prize-money and 15 AITA points. Benjamin had to settle for 12 points and Rs 1,500.

In the girls’ section, it was another remarkableeffort by Sonal as she clutched on to the under-16 trophy. Earlier, she also entered the State Ranking women’s final beating fourth seed Jitisha Shelarkha 6-4, 6-4.

Top seed in girls’ under-14 section, Megha Vakharia also did a `Sonal’ act as she emerged champion with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Andhra Pradesh’s Sasha Abraham. Megha had earlier reigned supreme in the same category at Practennis.

It was a fine double for Chandigarh as top seed Amanjyot Singh made short work of West Bengal’s Saurav Sukul 6-2, 6-1 to clinch the boys’ under-14 crown.

Most of the players, later, rushed on to Delhi for the next leg of the circuit which gets under way tomorrow. The youngsters are expected to sign-in tomorrow.

Results

Boys’ under-16 (final): 2-Sunil Kumar (Chd) bt 5-Benjamin Xavier (Mah) 6-0, 6-2.

Under-14 (final): 1-Amanjyot Singh (Chd) bt Saurav Sukul (WB) 6-2, 6-1.Girls’ under-16 (final): 1-Sonal Phadke (Mah) bt 3-Lisa Pereira (Mah) 6-0, 6-0.Under-14: 1-Megha Vakharia bt 6-Sasha Abraham 6-3, 6-4.StateRankingWomen (semi-finals): 1-Sonal Phadke bt 4-Jitisha Shelarkha 6-4, 6-4.Under-12 (semi-finals): 3-Niddhi Shah bt 2-Tulsi Mehta 6-2, 6-3.