Bengaluru, Sept 4: Local lass Shreeniti Chowdhury is in line for a double at the KSLTA World Tennis Tour Junior J30 Bengaluru after reaching both the singles and doubles finals at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Shreeniti produced a superb comeback in singles, overcoming sixth seed Vasundra Balajee 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, and then returned to the court to combine with Riddhi Shinde and book their place in the girls’ doubles final.
In the singles title clash, the 15-year-old Shreeniti will meet another local girl Aahida Singh who brushed aside the challenge of Zoha Qureshi with a straight set 6-2, 6-0 victory.
In the boys’ section, Niyanth Badrinarayanan of the USA ended top seed and home favourite Tejas Ravi’s campaign in straights sets 7-6, 6-4, while Fazal Ali Meer edged Vivaan Mirdha 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in a thrilling three-setter to enter the final.
Shreeniti recovered from a disastrous start as she was down 0-5 in the opening set before regaining her rhythm and winning three games in a row. But the recovery came a little too late as Vasundra closed out the set 6-3.
The second set was a completely different story. Shreeniti was ruthless with her forehand and frequently attacked the net, with most of her approaches proving successful. She broke Vasundra at love in the fourth and sixth games, while her opponent struggled with a string of unforced errors, often finding the net.
The Bengalurean carried that momentum into the decider, earning a break in the very first game and then adding breaks in the fifth and seventh games to complete a remarkable comeback victory.
Aahida, the fifth seed, produced a commanding performance against Zoha Qureshi, the player who had knocked out top seed Shaivi Gaurav Dalal in the pre-quarterfinals. Aahida raced to a 4-0 lead before briefly losing concentration, dropping her serve in the fifth and seventh games. She broke Zoha in the sixth, however, and took the opening set 6-2 and didn’t event give a semblance of a chance in the second set to wrap up the match.
In the boys’ semifinal, Tejas dominated much of the first half of the opening set, but the tall Niyanth matched him shot for shot as the two went hammer and tongs. Neither was prepared to give an inch, and the set eventually had to be decided by a tie-break, which Niyanth edged 8-6.
A single break in the second game of the second set proved decisive. Niyanth held on to that advantage in another hard-fought set to end the home favourite’s run.
RESULTS (ALL INDIANS UNLESS MENTIONED IN BRACKETS)
BOYS SINGLES (SEMIFINALS)
3-Niyanth Badrinarayanan (USA) bt 1-Tejas Ravi 7-6 (6), 6-4;
6-Fazal Ali Meer bt 4-Vivaan Mirdha 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
BOYS DOUBLES (SEMIFINALS)
Neel Kelkar/Mahijeet Pradhan bt Chukka Lakshya Vardhan/Parthiv Nallagundla 6-1, 6-2;
Nithinbarath KS /Abhivadya Misra bt 2-Niyanth Badrinarayanan (USA)/Aarush Kote (USA) 7-5, 7-6 (3).
GIRLS SINGLES (SEMIFINALS)
4-Shreeniti Chowdhury bt 6-Vasundra Balajee 3-6, 6-1, 6-1;
5-Aahida Singh bt Zoha Qureshi 6-2, 6-0;
GIRLS DOUBLES (SEMIFINALS)
1-Shreeniti Chowdhury/Riddhi Shinde Vs. 3-Tejaswi Manneni/Aditi Paturi (USA)6-4, 6-4;
Zoha Qureshi/Deepthi Venkatesan bt Prachi Malik/Riya Gangamma Pudiyokkada 6-4, 6-3;
