Date:02/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/02/stories/2008080256251800.htm

Sport - Tennis

Likitha and Suraj bag titles

MYSORE: The second-seeded Likitha Devraj of the host Academy (Raghuveer Tennis Academy) humbled the top-seeded A.K. Padmapriya 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Mysore final and claimed the girls’ under-18 singles title in the AITA Talent Series tournament here on Friday.

The fifth-seeded Suraj R. Prabodh shocked the fourth seed from Maharashtra, Vivek Waghmare 6-3, 6-4 and won the boys’ under-14 singles title.

Heavy showers halted the proceedings in the boys’ under-18 singles final between Tamil Nadu’s top-seed M.A. Navin and the fifth seed S. Prasanth. Naveen was up 6-5.

The girls’ under-14 singles final between Preethi Gokhale and Preeti Ujjini was also halted midway in the second set with the former leading 6-2, 3-1.

The results:

Boys:

Under-18: Semifinals: M.A. Navin (TN) bt J.S. Arun Raj (TN) 6-1, 6-2; S. Prasanth (TN) bt Himanshu Mali (Mah) 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5.

Under-14: Final: Suraj R. Prabodh (Kar) bt Vivek Waghmare (Mah) 6-3, 6-4; Semifinals: Suraj R. Prabodh (Kar) bt S.D. Prajwal Dev (Kar) 7-6(4), 6-2; Vivek Waghmare (Mah) bt S. Kishen (Kar) 6-3, 6-2.

Girls: Under-18: Final: Likitha Devraj (Kar) bt A.K. Padmapriya (Kar) 6-3, 6-2; Semifinals: A.K. Padmapriya (Kar) bt Sabatini Ankaraju (AP) 6-1, 6-1; Likitha Devraj (Kar) bt Nivetha Srinivasan (Kar) 6-2, 6-3.

Under-14: Semifinals: Preeti Gokhale (Kar) bt Taarini Chandrmouli (Kar) 6-0, 6-0; Preeti Ujjini (Kar) bt Varunya Chandrashekar (Kar) 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (1). — Correspondent