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Akanksha scripts victory, defeats Pune girl Gargi in tennis finals
Bringing varieties into her shots, Akanksha broke Gargi twice in the first 15 minutes of the game to make her intentions clear
Staying mentally strong during the crunch situation of the match helped unseeded Akanksha Nitture to outplay fourth seeded Gargi Pawar 6-1, 7-5 in the final of the 10th edition of the Om Dalvi memorial all-India ranking under-18 tennis tournament at the Maharashtra tennis gymkhana, Aundh on Friday.
Analysing her performance in the finals Nitture said “I started off well but in the second set I was not up to the mark and that’s why Gargi managed to pull out the points. I could have done better but overall I am happy with my performance”
Nitture continued her dominance and took 3-0 lead in the first set. Bringing varieties into her shots, she broke Gargi twice in the first 15 minutes of the game to make her intentions clear. Local girl Pawar, who came into tournament after winning Under-18 national title in Delhi last month, finally broke Nitture in fourth with cross court winner to make it 3-1. Struggling to find her rhythm, Pawar failed to hold her serve in the next game and allowed Nitture to control the match. The Mumbai girl, used her drop shots nicely and clinched the first set 6-1 in 45 minutes. “I was not playing well. I made so many unforced errors and could not find my rhythm,” Pawar told Hindustan Times.
In the second set, Nitture was challenged by Pawar with the furious back hand returns. After six games the match was 3-3 with Nitture and Pawar breaking each other’s serve in the fourth and fifth game respectively. “I played few loose shots which allowed Gargi to come back into the second set,” said Nitture. Pawar finally found her groove and came out with clean shots to break opponent in the ninth game to take 5-4 lead.
Serving for a set point, Pawar had a chance to wrap up the second set but in form Nitture’s timely drop shots broke Pawar’s serve to make it 5-all. It was all Nitture’s match after all, as she managed to hold her serve in the next game and broke Gargi in 12th game to script a victory in an hour and 10 minutes battle.
The winner earned 50 AITA points while runner up got 40 AITA points.
Bondre clinches boy’s title
In the boy’s contest, it was Mohit Bondre from Gujarat who rallied back from one set down to out play Aryaan Bhatia 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to lift the title.
“I just kept hitting ball deep which allowed me overcome Aryaan. It was a good match. In the second and third set I executed my game properly over the court,” said Bondre.
For Bhatia, it was a dull day on the court as he could not control the match after winning the first set.
“Uneven bounce at the court did not allowed me to settle in. He (Bondre) is not unbeatable, but he came out with a better performance,” explained Bhatia.
Results: (Finals)
Boys: Mohit Bondre (Guj) bt 4-Aryaan Bhatia (Mah) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Girls: Akanksha Nitture (Mah) bt 4-Gargi Pawar (Mah) 6-1, 7-5.
Winner’s quotes:
Akanksha Nitture (Girls winner)
Gargi is the master of clay courts. I don’t practice on clay courts in Mumbai so I had made few plans for her before coming into the match. I was managed to execute all during the match.
Mohit Bondre (boy’s winner)
I was just focused on playing well. This was first victory on clay courts. Before this tournament I had played thrice on clay surface but never won a trophy earlier.
