U-14 top seed Madhuri crashes out in semi-finals

Mumbai, May 24 (UNI) Girls' under-14 top seed Madhuri Patere crashed out in dramatic fashion, in the semi-finals of the Vazirani All India Ranking Championship series tennis tournament here today.

Formidable third seed Shruti Archita caused the biggest upset of the day when she shocked Patere 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in an exciting two-and-a-half-hour encounter.

After Patere got off to a good start by winning the opening set, Archita chose to move her accomplished opponent all around the court in the second set. As the move paid off, Archita earned an early break in the third set for a 2-0 lead and never looked back at the Vazirani National Sports Academy.

But Patere made amends when she partnered Sukhmani Wadhwa to beat Bharati Bylapudi and Ruchita Ugalmugle 6-2, 6-4 for the under-14 doubles crown.

Boys' under-14 fourth seed Adwait Sadwilkar fashioned the other upset of the day when he overcame doubles partner and second seed P.

Prabhav of Andhra Pradesh 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in another absorbing two-and-a-half-hour battle.

Both chose aggressive styles to play attacking tennis as the left-handed Prabhav snatched the opening set, while Sadwilkar recovered brilliantly in the second set to force the decider.

As the scores were level at 4-4 in the third and final set, Prabhav enjoyed an envious 40-15 advantage in the ninth game. But he squandered two game points and tossed away the chance to hold serve.

Sadwilkar seized the opportunity as he broke for 5-4 and held serve for the set and match.

Sadwilkar then won the doubles crown when he clinched the boys' under-14 doubles title along with Prabhav.

Top seed Sneha Devi Reddy and second seed Bharati Bylapudi set up a mouthwatering girls under-12 championship round. Vazirani Academy lass Bylapudi has reached her sixth individual final in a row this season, which includes one victory.

Results: Boys U-14 (Semi-finals): 1-Vishal Passi bt 3-Anirudh Barp 6-2, 6-4; 4-Adwait Sadwilkar bt 2-P. Prabhav (AP) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles (Final): 1-Adwait Sadwilkar/P. Prabhav bt Anirudh Barp/Yash Deshpande 6-2, 6-2.

Boys U-12 (Semi-finals): 1-Ryan Serrao bt Sahil Deshmukh 8-3; 2-Aditya Vyas bt Nikhil Passi 8-4.

Boys U-10 (Semi-finals): 1-Nikhil Passi bt Dhir Gala 8-4; Nikhil Kannan bt Sahil Deshmukh 8-5.

Boys U-8 (Semi-finals): Vatsin Thakkar bt Mehul Kosambia 6-0; Dhruv Sunish bt Aniket Barp 6-0.

Girls U-14 (Semi-finals): 3-Shruti Archita bt 1-Madhuri Patere 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; 2-Riddhi Hegde bt 7-Sneha Devi Reddy 6-0, 6-2.

Doubles (Final): 1-Madhuri Patere/Sukhmani Wadhwa bt Bylapudi/Ruchita Ugalmugle 6-2, 6-4.

Girls U-12 (Semi-finals): 1-Sneha Devi Reddy bt Kavita Mishra 8-1; 2-Bharati Bylapudi bt Rituja Bhosle 8-5.

Girls U-10 (Semi-finals): 1-Nandini Das bt 4-Vasanti Shinde 8-3; 3-Devanshi Bimjiani bt 2-Harleen Wadhwa 8-5.

Girls U-8 (Semi-finals): Jagruti Sachan bt Anoushka Krishnan 6-2; Dakshita Patel bt Dia Sanghi 6-1.

UNI