Date:28/10/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/28/stories/2005102807381900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Easy for Sriram

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Sriram Balaji knocked out the top seed B. Vikram Reddy 6-3, 6-2 to move into the under-16 boys' semifinals of the DSCL National sub-junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Friday.

The 15-year-old Balaji, a trainee of coach R. Elangovan at the Perk's Academy in Coimbatore, played a fluent game, stroking with confidence, to emerge a comfortable winner.

The wiry Balaji had beaten Vikram on way to finishing runner-up in the under-14 section in the last edition, and has improved quite a bit.

In another quarterfinal, Navinder Pal Singh of Chandigarh pulled off a thriller against the smooth-stroking Christopher Marquis of Maharashtra in a third set tie-breaker.

Marquis saved two matchpoints in the tie-breaker, but buried a sitter forehand. Marquis had failed to serve out the match twice at 5-4 and 6-5 against the strong Chandigarh lad who not only served well but also quite sharp with his volleys. Navinder fired two aces in the tie-breaker to gain a strangle-hold.

In the boys' under-14 section, Yuki Bhambri showed his class with an all-round game as he outplayed the second seed Shiva Sangwan of Chandigarh for the loss of one game.

The results: Boys (quarterfinals): Under-16: Sriram Balaji bt B. Vikram Reddy 6-3, 6-2; Tariq Jacob bt Manav Dhawan 6-4, 6-2; Navinder Pal Singh bt Christopher Marquis 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(5); G. P. Prajnesh bt Kush Jagga 6-3, 6-0. Under-14: Christopher Marquis bt Jugul Marfatia 6-0, 6-4; Mansingh Athare bt Samer Paranjape 6-3, 6-2; Ronak Manuja bt Suraj Desai 6-1, 7-5; Yuki Bhambri bt Shiva Sangwan 6-1, 6-0.

Girls (semifinals): Under-16: Poojashree Venkatesh bt Vishaka Sheoran 6-1, 6-3; Parija Maloo bt Treta Bhattacharya 6-1, 6-2. Under-14: Soniya Dayal bt Prerna Bhambri 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Rashmi Teltumbe bt Tanvi Shah 6-3, 6-3.