Mumbai, January 31, 2016: The top seeds, Mohit Mayur of TN and Natasha Palha of Goa,
lived up to their billing, lifting the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively
in the Rs 13 lakh AITA Ranking Anirudh Desai JVPG Tennis Tournament, hosted by
JVPG, in association with Nine Hills, at their courts, here, on Sunday.
Defending champion Natasha weathered a tough challenge from
the unseeded Mumbai lass Rashmi Teltumbde in the first set before winning the
tie-breaker 7-4 and running away with the second set to win 7-6 (4), 6-2.
In contrast, Mayur dominated the third seed from Pune, Anvit
Bendre in the first set winning 6-2 and seemed on his way to make the final a
no-contest when he jumped to a 5-0 lead with two breaks of serve in the second.
However, a late resurgence from the third seed, which saw him claw his way to
4-5 from 0-5 down, had the goodly crowd on its feet. But the experienced Mayur
kept his cool when it mattered most and with Bendre slipping back into error
mode, while serving in the 10thgame, broke his rival to seal the set and match.
Mayur took home the winner’s purse of Rs 1.35 lakhs and 60
AITA points, while Bendre earned Rs 80,000 and 45 AITA points. Natasha was
richer by Rs 80,000 and 60 AITA points, while Rashmi had to be content with Rs
50,000 and 45 AITA points.
It was consistency against flair in the women’s final and
while Rashmi impressed with her wide repertoire of shots, especially the inside
out forehand which always caught Natasha on the wrong foot, she did not help
her cause with a slew of unforced errors, especially in the tie-breaker. The
second set saw Natasha breaking early and then again in the seventh game before
serving out the match.
Bendre appeared jaded in the first set of the final against
Mayur, reaching the balls late, over hitting and even tanking a few easy kills.
Matters went further downhill in the second as Bendre kept committing unforced
errors and Mayur had do nothing special but just focus on keeping the ball in
play. However, Bendre suddenly seemed to find his rhythm after holding serve in
the sixth game. He began finding the spots with his down the line forehand and
backhand shots to surprise Mayur. Bendre broke the top seed twice to come back
into the match at 4-5, but once again slipped into mediocrity when serving to
level scores and lost the game at love to give Mayur the match.
Final results:
Men: 1-Mohit Mayur (TN) bt 3-Anvit Bendre (Mah) 6-2, 6-4
Women: 1-Natasha Palha (Goa )
bt Rashmi Teltumbde (Mah) 7-6 (4), 6-2
Pic Caption : Men's singles winner Mohit Mayur(left) and
Women's Singles winner Natasha Palha (right) seen with Shweta Patel (centre) ,
daughter of Anirudh Desai at the finals of the Rs 13 lakh AITA Ranking
Anirudh Desai JVPG Tennis Tournament, hosted by JVPG, in association with Nine
Hills, at their courts, in Mumbai, on Sunday.
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