Ratnika overpowers Shweta to become youngest natl champ

New Delhi, Oct 25 (UNI) Delhi teenager Ratnika Batra earned the distinction of becoming the youngest national tennis champion as she outclassed qualifier Shweta Rana 6-3, 6-0 to win the DSCL Women's hard court tournament here today.

The 14-year old giant killer, who made it to the main draw as a wildcard, had stunned top seed Shalini Sahoo on her way to the final. The spunky youngster reduced the summit clash to a virtually no contest as she knocked out qualifier Shweta Rana (Himachal Pradesh) without any problems to also earn a wild card for the USD 10,000 ITF event, to be held in Bangalore in February next year.

Ratnika began by dropping her serve in the very first game but soon regained her form and then went on to win 12 games out of 14.

Ratnika had won the under-14 and under-16 national championship titles last year.

Top players like Isha Lakhani, Ankita and Sanaa Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi did not participate in the event as they were playing in ITF tournaments abroad.

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