Suraj battles his way into final

Tribune News Service 
Chandigarh, October 11

Top seed Suraj Prabodh of Karnataka had to dig deep to overcome Delhi’s Jatin Dahiya in The Tribune State Tennis Championship semifinals at the CLTA Complex, Sector 10, here, on Thursday.  

The duo started off on a positive note, holding their respective serves to stretch the opening set into the tie-breaker. Suraj finally prevailed 7-6(7) over Dahiya to take the lead. 

Dahiya, however, clawed his way back into the match with a convincing 6-2 win in the second set, and with the momentum on his side, he looked good to give the top seed a run for his money. But in an anti-climax, the Delhi youngster bowed 2-6 to Suraj in the decider and crashed out. 

In the final, Suraj will face sixth seed Kunal Anand of Delhi, who was awarded a walkover against fifth seed VM Ranjeet of Tamil Nadu in the semis.

Samhitha cruises 

In the women’s singles, top seed Sai Samhitha of Tamil Nadu had an easy outing as she raced into the final with a 6-3 6-1 win over Rajasthan’s Farat Aleen Qamar. 

Second seed Humera Shaik of Telangana packed off third seed Prathiba Narayan of Karnataka 6-2 7-6(4) in the other semifinal.

Mohit-Sahil in final

In the men’s doubles, top seed pair of Mohit Mayur and Sahil Gaware registered a 6-3 6-3 win over fourth seeds Vilasier Khate and Amarnath Arora to set up the title clash with Ishaque Eqbal and Mohammed Fahad.

The second seed duo humbled Udayan Bhakar and Taha Kapadia 6-3 6-3 in the semifinals.  

Top seeds Sai Samitha and Humera Shaik lived up to their billing as they drubbed Arthi Muniyan and Megha Muthukumaran 6-1 6-1 in the women’s doubles semifinals. 

Dedeepya Sai and Kaavya Sawhney upset second seeds Anaam Almas and Sharanya Shetty 6-2 6-2 in the other semifinal. 

Top seeds survive 

Top seed Abhay Mohan of Chandigarh, meanwhile, rallied from a set down to beat Karnataka’s Shubham Kundu in the boys’ U-16 semis.

Abhay lost the opening set 3-6, but came back strongly to win the next two sets 6-4 6-2 to set up the summit clash with city-mate Aryan Thakur. 

The sixth seed overcame Amitoj Singh 6-7(6) 6-3 6-3.

In the girls’ U-16 category, top seed Riya Kaushik of Chandigarh overcame her city counterpart Amreen Sidhu in an intense three-setter to enter the final.

Riya survived the opening set 7-6(4), but Amreen restored the parity with a 6-2 win in the second set. In the decider, Riya overcame her opponent 7-5 to stay in contention for the title.