Arjun Kadhe fulfils dream of becoming national champion

It was a long wait for the 27-year-old city tennis star Kadhe who has won the U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18, and men’s doubles national championships in the past

After falling short three times previously, Arjun Kadhe made history on Sunday by becoming the national tennis champion.

Kadhe (in pic) defeated Prithvi Sekhar of Railways 6-3, 6-4 in a two-set victory at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, Gurugram on Sunday to become national champion (HT PHOTO)

Kadhe defeated Prithvi Sekhar of Railways 6-3, 6-4 in a two-set victory at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, Gurugram on Sunday.

It was a long wait for the 27-year-old city tennis star Kadhe who has won the U-12, U-14, U-16, U-18, and men’s doubles national championships in the past.

“I had a really good week. This win means a lot to me because I was hoping to get this from the last few years and I had lost three finals and this was my fourth and I am really happy to get the tag of the men’s national champion finally and I am excited about the upcoming tournaments,” said Kadhe from Gurugram.

Kadhe who trains with Hemant Bendrey at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana will be seen in action now in the $15,000 ITF WTT cup main draws from Tuesday at the Deccan Gymkhana.

In the semi-final, Kadhe defeated Ishaque Eqbal 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Kadhe has started the post lockdown season on a good note as he clinched the $25,000 ITF doubles title with Dan Added of France as the duo defeated Inigo Cervantes Huegun of Spain and Mark Vervoort of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 at Villena, Spain in February.

In women, second-seeded Shrivalli Bhamidipaty of Telangana upset top-seeded Vaidehi Chaudhari of Gujarat 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) to be crowned the women’s national champion.

The defending champion Niki Poonacha had the consolation of winning the doubles title with Anirudh Chandrasekar defeating Ishque Eqbal and Nitin Kumar Sinha 4-6, 6-3, (10-5).

Sai Samhitha did well to win the doubles title in partnership with Rishika Sunkara, beating top seeds Soha Sadiq and Saumya Vig 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).

Results

Men

Arjun Kadhe (Mah) bt Prithvi Sekar (Railways) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles: Niki Poonacha and Anirudh Chandrasekar bt Ishque Eqbal and Nitin Kumar Sinha 4-6, 6-3, (10-5)

Women

Shrivalli Bhamidipaty (TS) bt Vaidehi Chaudhary (Guj) 6-2, 7-6(2)

Doubles: Sai Samhitha and Rishika Sunkara bt Soha Sadiq and Saumya Vig 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).

Box 1

Pune’s Adkar is U-14 national champion

Asmi Adkar, one of the rising players from the city rallied back from one set down to clinch the under-14 national championship title defeating Sohini Mohanty of Odisha 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA), GA Ranade Tennis complex in Mumbai.

Adkar who has good control over backhand and forehand made things difficult for the Odisha player as she was not ready for aggressive tennis played by Adkar who trains under Kedar Shah at Bounce tennis academy.

Recently, Adkar had won the doubles crown at the under-16 championship series at Ahmedabad and also won the under-14 national series which was held at Haryana.

The boys’ title went to Krish Tyagi of Karnataka who upset top seed Pranav Rethin RS of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in a close match.

Results:

Girls: 14-Asmi Adkar (Mah) bt Sohini Mohanty (Odisha) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Boys: 2-Krish Tyagi (Kar) bt 1-Pranav Rethin RS (TN) 6-4, 7-6(7-5).

Box 2

$15K ITF WTT cup main draws from March 23

The main draw of KPIT –MSLTA ITF WTT Cup $15,000 men’s tennis championships will kick start at Deccan Gymkhana on Tuesday.

Sidharth Rawat (474), Manish Sureshkumar (675), local lads Arjun Kadhe (677) AryanGoveas (863) are the Indians who have got an entry into the main draw. Four Indian players, Ganta Sai Karteek Reddy, Karan Singh, Dhruv Sunish and Atharva Sharma have been awarded the main draw wildcards in the singles. Simon Carr IRL (549), Aidan Mchugh GBR (568), Jonathan Mridha SWE (590), Oliver Crawford USA (604), Zane Khan of USA are amongst the players from 11 countries namely France, Ireland, Great Britain, USA, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary will be seen in action at the event.

The Pune leg is the third ITF men’s event in India with the two previous legs being played at Lucknow and Indore. The Pune event will be followed by an ITF men’s event in Delhi. The double’s final will be held on March 27, while the singles final will be held on March 28.