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Tennis
Somdev scripts a sensational triumph
By Our Sports Reporter
KOLKATA, FEB. 9. India's Somdev Kishore Dev Varman gave a brilliant display of nerve and endurance to upstage his Israeli opponent, Amit Inbar, in a gruelling final to lift the boys' title of the Bharat Petroleum-ITF junior tennis tournament here at the DKS courts on Saturday.
Dev Varman, a ward of the Britannia Amritraj Tennis Scheme in Chennai, showed real grit and temperament in making a great comeback before prevailing over a superior playing opponent in a three-hour battle that was decided via tie-breaker in the final set.
Isha awarded girls' title
In a direct contrast to the boys' duel, the girls' match ended without a contest. Second-seeded Indian Isha Lakhani was not required to play a single shot to win the girls' crown in the morning as her opponent, Rui Du of China, opted out of the contest reporting high fever and the former was awarded the title on a walk-over.
Isha later played an exhibition match against I-Hsuan Huang - a quarterfinal loser - of Chinese Taipei and won the match 6-2, 6-2.
The disappointment of the morning was more than compensated by the high-voltage contest in the boys' final. Dev Varman, as the fifth-seed, began strongly and won the first set by the odd break in three. With both the players playing their first ITF final, the urge to excel spurred unseeded Inbar into action in the second set and the Israeli won it displaying a nice mix of power and control.
Inbar continued his form in the decisive set and reached the match-point, leading 5-2, in the eighth game as Dev Varman struggled with his service. The Indian clawed back into the game from that point salvaging his service game first and then forced the tie-breaker breaking Inbar in the ninth game. With the Israeli apparently shaken by the opponent's dogged challenge, Dev prevailed in the tie-breaker to script one of the finest come-back wins in the junior circuit.
The results (finals): Boys' singles: 5-Somdev K. Dev Varman (Ind) bt Amit Inbar (Isr) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).
Girls' singles: 2-Isha Lakhani (Ind) w/o. 8-Rui Du (Chn).
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