Top seed Parikshit Somani was tested to the hilt by Siddhant Banthia before prevailing 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the boys under-16 semi-finals of the Fenesta Open Junior National Tennis Championship here today.
Parikshit will face Nitin K Sinha in the title clash tomorrow.
Nitin was comfortably placed as he pulled the trigger on second seed Adil Kalyanpur for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win in style. In a contest where the exchanges from the baseline made for good viewing, Nitin played the big points better for a huge win.
In the girls under-16 event as well there was an upset when third seed Mahak Jain paid the price for inconsistency against Sabhyata Nihalani. Sabhyata had not expected the result to be so easy as she outgunned Mahak 6-3, 6-2 and will meet Akansha Bhan in the finale. Akanksha had the measure of Prinkle Singh in straight sets as she won 6-1, 6-4.
In the under-14 sections of boys and girls, second seeds Shreya Gulia and Sacchitt Sharrma were sent packing in three-setters.
Sanya Singh was the first to enter the under-14 final as she teased Sharranya Gaware 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals with her smooth baseline game. Sanya faces a tricky opponent in Salsa Aher in the finals as Salsa pulled off a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 win against Shreya Gulia.
The high point of Salsa' win was the ability to play without any pressure and forced errors from her inexperienced opponent.
The under-14 boys' semi-finals were well fought as Shashi Kant Rajput and Mann Maulik Shah came through the wringer.
The doubles finals winners for boys under 16 event were seed three Sivadeep Kosaraju and Rohit Aynaampudi who beat seed four players Suresh D and Abhimanyu Vannemreddy 7-6(4),4-6, 10-8 while in the girls under 16 the seed two Mahak Jain and Sabhyata Nihalani showed good partnership and beat the seed one players Sathwika Sama and Shivani Ingle 6-2,6-0.
In the doubles boys under 14 Shashank Teertha and Rithvik Choudhary got a walk over from Dev Javia and Kevin Patel to win the title while in the girls under 14 Anu Verma and Archita Mahalwal won the title.
