The Hindu : Vishnuvardhan finishes in style

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 18, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Vishnuvardhan finishes in style

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD MAY 17. It was a double delight for the host as Hyderabadis J. Vishnuvardhan and Punam Reddy won the boys and girls singles titles respectively in the Junior National tennis tournament, organised by Ace Tennis Academy in memory of Farkhunda Ali, at the Lal Bahadur Stadium SAAP tennis complex here on Saturday.

Punam Reddy bagged her second `double' this month in the National circuit by picking the doubles title too.

When 12th seeded Vishnuvardhan outplayed the third-seeded Aditya Madkekar 6-2, 6-2 it didn't surprise many. The local boy displayed the desired level of consistency throughout the event and later he confessed that after knocking out top-seeded Rupesh Roy in the semifinals on Friday, his confidence level was very high before the final today.

More importantly, he was not complacent and meant business from the word go with a break-point. With a stinging second serve and a brilliant forehand passing shot, Vishnuvardhan proved too hot to handle for the Maharashtra boy in the sultry weather.

The return-of-serve was impeccable for Vishnuvardhan, a product of DAV Public School here, and he doubled up the misery of the hapless opponent with a series of forehand cross-court returns. The only time he looked in trouble was when he went in for those sliced backhand returns. He somehow struggled to get the required height and this give Madkekar a glimmer of hope.

But, Madkekar game went awry as the match progressed with Vishnuvardhan was consistent in his power-game. Serving at 1-4 to stay on in the first set, Madkekar's lapse in concentration was complete as he committed a double-fault to give an easy game to the opponent. With superb interceptions at the net, he effectively countered the few times Madkekar tried to play the serve-and-volley game.

The second set was no different as Vishnuvardhan dominated again, starting off with a break-point. The only consolation for Madkekar was to extend the 16-year-old Hyderabadi to a deuce in the fourth game before losing that game too. With his game in disarray, which also saw another double-fault, all that Madkekar could do was to just watch his rival reel off points at will. And quite fittingly, serving for the match, Vishnuvardhan finished off in style with two consecutive aces.

The girls final saw qualifier Meghna Paritala's flatter to deceive as third-seeded Punam Reddy rallied well to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Despite starting off in style, wrapping up the first set with a steady game by engaging Punam Reddy to baseline duels and interspersing with some fine cross-court, forehand returns, Meghna seemed to have caved in to the big-match pressure.

The story was completely different in the next two sets as Punam, in a clever change of strategy, attacked Meghna's backhand with an impressive serve-and-volley game.

Once Punam got the momentum and the game in perfect place, there was no looking back for this southpaw, a student of Hyderabad Public School. Clearly, Meghna paid a heavy price for not having a strong serve.

Later, Punam was back in action winning the girls doubles title partnering Sania Mirza and outplaying Kommireddi Pooja and Oormila Ram 6-0, 6-1.

Rupesh Roy and Anshuman Dutta, outplaying Siddarth Gulati and Jitin Bishnoi 6-3, 6-2, won the boys' doubles title.

Sania Mirza picked her second title by partnering Punna Vikas to win the mixed doubles final against Kommireddi Pooja and Anshuman Dutta 6-2, 6-2. It was a funny sight to see Anshuman repeatedly have a look at the watch as he had to catch the evening train.

Mr. K.S. Sarma, Chief Executive Officer, Prasar Bharati, gave away the prizes.

The results:

Boys (singles): J. Vishnuvardhan (AP) bt Aditya Madkekar (Mah) 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles: Rupesh Roy (WB) & Anshuman Dutta (Asm) bt Siddarth Gulati & Jitin Bishnoi 6-3, 6-2.

Girls (singles): S. Punam Reddy (AP) bt Meghna Paritala (AP) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles: Sania Mirza (AP)/Punam Reddy bt Kommireddi Pooja/ Oormila Ram (AP) 6-0, 6-1.

Mixed doubles: Sania Mirza/Punna Vikas bt Kommireddi Pooja/Anshuman Dutta 6-2, 6-2.

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