Kaavya, Safanah, Stuti reach last four strage

MUSCAT: Kavya Jayakumar, Safanah Al Riyami and Stuti Mathur sealed their spots in the last four stage of the girls under-14 singles at the ISC-Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis Tournament organised by the Indian Social Club (ISC).

Top seed Kaavya Jayakumar played with authority and notched up a convincing 8-1 victory over Smriti Iyer in the quarterfinal. In another quarterfinal match second seed Safanah Al Riyami powered her way to a comprehensive 8-0 victory over Akshita AR to advance to the semifinal.

Stuti Mathur scored an impressive 8-3 victory to upset Tanaal Al Riymi and booked a semifinal date against the top seed.

Talented Omani Issa Al Suleimani progressed to the semifinal of the boys under-12 event with two brilliant victories.

Issa first disposed off Majid Al Amri 8-2 and then defeated Mikhail Sarit 8-1 in the quarterfinals. Second seed Praneeth Raj was equally impressive in his 8-0 demolition of Sahthan TR and in the quarterfinals posted a fine 8-2 victory over Shantanu Sriram.

Ali l Busaidi also advanced to the last four of the boys under-12 event with a hard-fought 8-4 victory over Charlie Sennhauser.

Abhishek Deshpande completed the semifinal line-up after registering a hard-fought 8-7 (7-2) win over Rohan Sebastian.

Abhishek and Rohan gave their hearts out in a nerve-wrecking match. In a match with fluctuating fortunes, the two talented lads battled it out for more than one hour before Abhishek sealed the issue in the tie-breaker.

Rohan got the early break but did not take advantage as Abhishek won the next three games.

Scores went neck-and-neck until 4-all. Rohan broke in the ninth game and held to take a 6-4 lead. Abhishek fought back to 6-all and broke Rohan to force the tie-breaker.

Rohan lost his way in the tiebreaker as Abhishek dominated to win a place in the semifinal.