Sport - Tennis

Sagar has the last laugh

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

DAY TO REMEMBER: The winners — Sagar Manjunath, Evans Mirajkar, Tarani Chandramouli and S.P. Ritu — with their trophies.

BANGALORE: Trailing 0-4 in the decider, Sagar Manjunath of High Performance Training Centre certainly needed a special effort to beat the odds. The youngster did that with guile and grit in the boys’ under-16 singles final against his spirited rival, Rohan Gaonkar, in the KSLTA-AITA Talent Series junior tennis championship which concluded at the KSLTA Courts here on Friday. Sagar won 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The top-seeded Sagar breezed past his rival 6-2 in the first set, breaking Rohan in the third, fifth and seventh games despite losing serve in the fourth game. It was a near-flawless display by Sagar who found his rhythm and hit his double-fisted backhand hard and clean.

However, the second set saw Rohan battling Sagar in a determined fashion as he clawed back from a 0-40 deficit to hold his serve in the third game.

Sagar had problems with his first serve and cut down his pace. This seemed to suit Rohan who played on his rival’s nerve. The ploy paid off as Sagar dropped his serve in the ninth game and Rohan wrapped up the set 6-4 on his serve.

Rohan continued in the same vein in the decider, stretching his rival with a series of baseline rallies. The harried Sagar kept hitting his returns over the lines and Rohan raced to a 4-0 lead.

Just when it looked like Rohan had the match in his bag, Sagar stuck back with renewed vigour.

He hit his groundstrokes with precision and kept passing his rival at the net.

Sagar took the next six games as a demoralised Rohan caved in from a position of strength.

Evans Mirajkar had the measure of the top seed B.K. Nikshep 6-4, 6-1 in the boys’ under-12 section.

S.P. Ritu, who had been at the receiving end in her past few meetings against Preethi Ujjini, avenged her defeats with a 6-2, 6-3 verdict in the girls’ under-16 singles final.

Tarani Chandramouli lifted the under-12 crown with a 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Kavya M. Kumar.

The results (all finals):

Boys: Under-16: Sagar Manjunath bt Rohan Gaonkar 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Under-12: Evans Mirajkar bt B.R. Nikshep 6-4, 6-1.

Girls: Under-16: S.P. Ritu bt Preethi Ujjini 6-2, 6-3.

Under-12: Tarani Chandramouli bt Kavya M. Kumar 6-1, 6-1.

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