Date:02/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/02/stories/2007110257762200.htm

Sport - Tennis

It’s Vikas vs. Karan

Our Correspondent

Mysore: Unseeded Vikas Hansoge and the fifth-seeded S. Karan, both from Karnataka, entered the boys’ under-16 final in the AITA Talent series tournament for juniors at the Raghuveer Tennis Club courts here on Thursday.

While Vikas toppled the top-seeded C.M. Kiran 6-3, 6-4, Karan surprised the third-seeded Rohit Srinath 6-4, 6-0 in the semifinals.

Vikas capitalised on the unforced errors made by Kiran as he went on to win the set after taking a 4-3 lead.

In the second set, Kiran was 0-4 down at one stage but made it 3-4. However, Vikas won the eighth game to go up 5-3 and then wrapped up the set and match 6-4.

Karan got past an erratic Rohit who could not find his rhythm and committed far too many unforced errors.

In the girls’ under-16 category, Karnataka’s U.M. Shalaka and Rachana R. Gowda moved into the final with comfortable wins over the fifth-seeded P. Sindoora (AP) 6-2, 6-4 and S.P. Ritu (Karnataka) 6-0, 6-4 respectively.

In the girls’ under-12 event, the third-seeded Ritu eliminated the top-seeded Dhruthi T. Venugopal (Kar) 6-2, 6-4 and the second-seeded S. Swetha (TN) scored a thumping 6-0, 6-2 win over Shloka Kumar (Kar).

The top-seeded Jude Raymond (AP) and the unseeded Karnataka player Suraj R. Prabodh made it to the final of the boys’ under-12 section.

The results: Boys under-16: Semifinals: Vikas Hansoge (Kar) bt C.M. Kiran (Kar) 6-3, 6-4; S. Karan (Kar) bt Rohit Srinath (Kar) 6-4, 6-0; Quarterfinals: Kiran bt Suraj R. Prabodh (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; Vikas bt S. Raghavendra (Kar) 6-2, 6-4; Rohit bt M. Jayanth Jayaraman (TN) 6-2, 6-2; Karan bt Rohit R. Gowda (Kar) 6-3, 6-4.

Girls under-16: Semifinals: U.M. Shalaka (Kar) bt P. Sindoora (AP) 6-2, 6-4; Rachana R. Gowda (Kar) bt S.P. Ritu (Kar) 6-0, 6-4; Quarterfinals: Shalaka bt S. Swetha (TN) 6-3, 6-2; Sindoora bt Nikitha Thelkar (Kar) 6-2, 6-4; Ritu bt Druthi T. Venugopal (Kar) 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4; Rachana bt P. Sudheera (AP) 6-0, 6-2.

Boys under-12: Semifinals: Jude Raymond (AP) bt Rohith R. Gowda (Kar) 7-5, 6-2; Suraj R. Prabodh (Kar) bt M. Jayanth Jayaraman (TN) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Girls under-12: Semifinals: S.P. Ritu (Kar) bt Dhruthi T. Venugopal (Kar) 6-2, 6-4; S. Swetha (TN) bt Shloka Kumar (Kar) 6-0, 6-2.