Bengaluru, Jan 16: Local favourites Prajwal Dev and Soha Sadiq scored upset victories to win the Men’s and women’s titles respectively in the Rs 2-Lakh prize money AITA Championship hosted by Rohan Bopanna The Sports School Tennis Academy and held under the aegis of KSLTA. In the finals that went to the wire at the host RBTSSTA courts here on Saturday, Prajwal seeded second beat the top seed Nikki Ponnappa of Andhra Pradesh 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 while Soha, ranked third overcame No.2 seed Samhitha Chamarthi of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 6-7 (0), 6-2.
In a match that was worthy of a title bout, both the opponents matched shot for shot and fired on all cylinders and broke each other’s serve before the Bengalurean held her serve at 5-4 to take the first set. Although the battle continued in the second set in the same vein, Samhitha looked a shade better and took an early 2-0 lead and once again at 5-3. Soha however rallied to push the set into a tie breaker. She couldn’t sustain her momentum though and was blanked by her rival in the tie-break.
In the final set, Samhitha’s exhaustion showed on the court when compared to Soha’s fitness and power, which made the difference in the decider which she clinched at 6-2.
The men’s final too was a close affair as the top two seeds Nikki and Prajwal battled it out for glory. The first set went with serve until the ninth game when Prajwal broke the top seed’s serve to win the set at 6-4.
Nikki turned on the heat at the start of the second set itself and broke Prajwal to go up 2-0. Both players held their respective serve till 5-3 when Nikki took the chance and broke the No.2 seed once more to take the match into the deciding set.
Prajwal broke early in the final set as Nikki struggled with an abdominal strain he picked up from earlier set. The injury hampered his serving through the third as he was able to hold just once as Prajwal stormed through to take the set and match at 6-1.
Finals
Men
Prajwal Dev (2) (KAR) bt Nikki Ponnappa (1) A(AP) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Women
Soha Sadiq (3) (KAR) bt Sai Samhitha Chamarthi (2) 6-4, 6-7 (0), 6-2
