Date:19/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/19/stories/2008101959832200.htm

Sport - Tennis

Abhijeet, Nimisha emerge champions

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: Sandeep Saxena

PROUD MOMENT: Nimisha Mohan and Abhijeet Tiwari, winners at the DSCL National junior tennis championships.

NEW DELHI: Abhijeet Tiwari and Nimisha Mohan asserted their supremacy in the boys and girls sections respectively in the DSCL National junior tennis championship at the DLTA Complex, here on Saturday.

The second-seeded Abhijeet proved a class apart for the young qualifier Ronit Bisht, as the Chandigarh player raced away to a 6-1, 6-3 triumph in 55 minutes.

Except for being in a spot of bother when he was down a breakpoint at 0-2 in the second set, Abhijeet was in command throughout.

“I was a little nervous in the second set. The idea was to stay cool and it worked. I am very happy with this title.

“It was not my target but I knew that I had a good chance,” said Abhijeet.

From losing the semifinals to the eventual champion Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the last edition, it has been a big jump for Abhijeet, who said that he would love to go through the qualifying event in the forthcoming ITF Futures men’s tournaments to provide himself with a solid foundation in the professional circuit.

In the girls’ final, Nimisha outplayed top seed Sweta Kumari Solanki for the loss of two games.

“I wanted to win the title and I am happy,” she said.

With the confidence of having won 12 singles matches in a row for back-to-back ITF Grade V junior titles in Chennai and Hyderabad last month, Nimisha revealed that she was ready to prove her worth at this level.

“I have worked a lot on my fitness. I didn’t let her get into the match,” said Nimisha, before rushing to play the qualifying event of the National women’s championship, to be hosted at the same venue from Monday.