The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Samhita, Thomas claim titles

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Sunday, Aug 05, 2007
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Samhita, Thomas claim titles

Sports Reporter

Thomas outplayed Prithivi 6-1, 6-0 in the under-14 final
Nithya ran out of steam in the decider

— Photo: S. Thanthoni

YOUNG CHAMPS: Winners of the KTC-India Pistons junior tennis tournament, with chief guest N. Venkataramani, Managing Director, India Pistons Limited.

Chennai: In a keenly contested girls’ under-14 final, C. Sai Samhita defeated B. Nithya Raj 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-1 in the India Pistons-TNTA junior tennis tournament at the KTC, Kottivakkam, on Saturday.

In the boys’ u-14 final, Thomas Premkumar outplayed S. Prithivi 6-1, 6-0.

The see-saw second set made the difference in the girls’ final, with some close rallies characterising the business end of the set. Samhita had a chance to close out the set when she was up 5-4 serving, with a set-point, but two inspiring winners from Nithya eventually took the set to a tie-breaker.

Nithya ran out of steam in the decider, serving poorly, as Samhita controlled the shots from the back of the court.

Smartly deploying an effective slice, she eased home at the end.

Thomas perfectly balanced attack and defence throughout the match, with his error-prone opponent having few answers. Moving well and passing accurately, the St. John’s (Mandaveli) student showed excellent reflexes near the net in the second set after Prithivi had trouble closing out the rallies.

N. Venkataramani, Managing Director, India Pistons, distributed the prizes.

Other results (finals): Boys: Doubles: Prithivi/ Dhananjay Dhruva bt Thomas/ R. Vivek 6-3, 6-4. Girls: Samhita/ Nithya b H. Madhumitha/ Lavanya Saravanan 6-4, 6-0.