Double delight for Eeshita
AITA SERIES The city-girl follows her doubles title glory with a win in singles final
LUCKNOW: There was no stopping top seed Eeshita Pandey of Uttar Pradesh as she mauled West Bengal’s Shruti Gupta in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to win girl’s singles crown and complete a golden double in AITA Under16 Tennis Championship at the grassy court of the Oudh Gymkahana here on Friday.
The Lucknow-girl, who is being trained by NIS coach Vijay Pathak at the hard court of the Vijyantkhand stadium, had earlier paired with Shristi to clinch girl’s doubles crown on Thursday.
Till the first six games of the first set, things looked even with both the players holding their serves. The turning point of the match came in the eighth game of the set when Eeshita broke Shruti to take a lead of 5-3. The top seeded lass then held her serve in the next game to take the set 6-3.
The second set witnessed some fighting tennis from Shruti after trailing by 0-2 at one stage. She broke Eeshita for the first time in the match before holding her serve to make it 2-2. However, Eeshita again took the control of the match with her powerful serves and volleys, breaking her opponent twice to seal the set and the fate of the match.
THE TURNING POINT OF THE MATCH CAME IN THE EIGHTH GAME OF THE SET WHEN EESHITA BROKE SHRUTI TO TAKE A LEAD OF 5-3
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“I didn’t allow my opponent to free her arms even from the very beginning of the clash,” said an elated Eeshita later, adding, “It made a big difference at the end as Shruti lost her rhythm from
the fifth game onwards.”
TENNIS TOURNEY
A record number of 128 men would be seen in action in the qualifying rounds of the 1st Manmohan Singh Saini Memorial
Tennis Tournament, beginning Saturday, at the SDS Tennis Academy here. The event offers Rs 1 lakh as prize money.