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Nivedita to fight it out with Lata

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI AUG. 23. Standing opposite each other on court number three, were a tall and stocky Poonam Reddy, the top seed, of Andhra Pradesh and a short Nivedita Venkatesh of Tamil Nadu. As the girls' under-18 girls' semifinals of the Adidas AITA junior tennis championship turned out at the Krishnan Tennis Centre, Kottivakkam, here on Friday, an unheralded local lass Nivedita showed enough patience and perseverance to pull off a 7-5, 6-1 win over the top seed.

Poonam's counterpart in the boys' under-18 section, Chatwinder Singh of Chandigarh was beaten by Bangalore's M.V. Abhay Prakash, the fourth seed 6-7 (2-7), 4-6.

``It is easily my best performance in the last three years,'' said a much-relieved Nivedita, doing her BA Economics in Ethiraj College.

In the other girls' semifinal, third seed Lata Assudani of Maharashtra defeated M. Kamini of Tamil Nadu 6-0, 7-6 (7-3). Kamini, though, had her chances when she served at 5-4 and again at 6-5 in the second set.

Abhay Prakash — making up for his dismal showing in the National championship where he lost in the pre-quarterfinals to Manoj Kumar Sewa — ousted Chatwinder in straight sets. Abhay weathered a tough first set, where he fired three aces in the tiebreaker and a relatively facile second set to win in one hour and 52 minutes. ``I kept more balls inside. My backhand chip shots worked well. And I think I moved pretty well,'' said Abhay, a trainee at the Bhupathi Tennis Village.

In the summit clash, Abhay will take on V.M. Ranjeet, who outclassed Rupesh Roy of Kolkata 6-2, 6-1 in 50 minutes. ``I attacked his (Rupesh) backhand which is not offensive and he loves pace which I did not give it to him,'' said Ranjeet.

The results (semifinals): Boys under-18: 7-M. Ranjeet (TN) bt 3-Rupesh Roy (WB) 6-2, 6-1; 4-M.V. Abhay Prakash (Kar) bt 1-Chatwinder Singh (Chd) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

Under-14: 1-M. Jeevan (TN) bt Nithyesh Nataraj (TN) 6-1, 6-1; 7-K.H. Praveen (AP) bt 4-R.K. Praveen (Kar) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Girls under-18: 3-Lata Assudani (Mah) bt M. Kamini (TN) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3); Nivedita Venkatesh (TN) bt 1-Poonam Reddy (AP) 7-5, 6- 1.

Under-14: 4-G.K. Swetha (TN) bt 2-D.Tejaswini (AP) 6-2, 6-3; 1-Sandri Gangotri (AP) bt 3-Madura Ranganathan (TN) 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles: Boys under-18 (semifinals): 2-Vikram Aditya Menon & Ajay Selvaraj (TN) bt Anshuman Dutta (Asm) & Rupesh Roy (WB) 6-4, 6-4; 4-M.V. Abhay Prakash & G. Arjun (Kar) bt 1-Chatwinder Singh (Chd) & P. Vikas (AP) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).

Girls under-18: (final): 3-Lata Assudani (Mah) & Sandra Sashidaran (Ker) bt 4-Marutha Devi & M. Kamini (TN) 6-3, 6-4. Semifinals: Marutha Devi & M. Kamini (TN) bt Madura Ranganathan (TN) & K. Pooja (AP) 6-2, 6-3; Lata Assudani (Mah) & Sandra Sashidaran (Ker) bt Preeti Rao & Alice Joy (TN) 7-5, 6-2.

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