Siddharth Marathe secured back-to-back victories at the Solaris court to enter the semi-finals of the Ravetkar Cup Solaris Club All India Ranking (U-16) Tennis Tournament at Mayur Colony on Sunday.
Earlier, Marathe toiled hard to pack, Arnav Paparkar 8-0 in pre-quarter finals and then after an hour of rest, he came back and defeated Ishan Godbharle 9-1 in the quarter-finals.
The matches consist of 15 games, out of which players need to win a minimum of eight games to win the match.
Marathe (14), who is three years older than Paparkar (11), used his forehand top spin shots frequently to earn the points. On other hand, Paparkar struggled to close the game.
On multiple occasions, Paparkar was 40-love up, but allowed Marathe to come back into the match.
“I need to improve on closing of the game, I was 40-love up on the server when he was leading 4-0 and then again I had a chance with 40-love up, but Siddharth managed to take the game on deuce points,” said seventh seeded Paparkar who trains at Adar Poonawalla Maharashtra Tennis Academy at Deccan Gymkhana.
Marathe was solid on both forehand and backhand shots, but still made a few unforced errors in the middle to make games longer.
{{/usCountry}}Marathe was solid on both forehand and backhand shots, but still made a few unforced errors in the middle to make games longer.
{{/usCountry}}“Match was not an easy one as many games went into deuce points, although I managed to win in the end, I should have closed it earlier,” added Marathe, who is 12-seeded in the tournament.
Right from the first game, Marathe was mixing up forehand top spin shots and backhand flat shots to keep Paparkar in check.
“He has a very good overall game which makes him a better player and he was also serving well, which helped him today,” added Paparkar.
“I just lost focus in the middle for few minutes so game went into a deuce,” added Marathe, who wrapped up the match in an hour.
Easy match against Ishan
In form Marathe, took a 4-0 lead quickly before Godbharle managed to hold his serve once to make it 4-1, but after that it was Marathe’s show again as he took the next five games on the trot to clinch the match 9-1.
Quotes:
Siddharth Marathe, winner
Since I’ve played against senior players this year, it has helped me improve my game. For 2020, my goal is to improve my service and not get distracted easily.
Arnav Paparkar
Going ahead, I will focus on closing the games. Service is another aspect where I need to improve.
Results:
Quarterfinals:
Boys:
12-Siddhart Marathe bt Ishan Godbharle 9-1; Anmol Nagpure bt Aman Kothari 9-5; Arnav Kokane bt Jay Pawar 9-7
Girls:
Chinmayi Bagwe bt Aashi Chhajed 9-5; Kkaira Chetnani bt Suhani Sabharwal 9-8 (8-6); Sonal Patil bt Aleena Shaikh 9-0; Gargee Phule bt Andrea Alemda 9-4
15-game matches tests player’s mental toughness
At the Solaris Club,matches of the best of 15 format has been making players nervous as they are used to playing regular three-set-matches.
A player needs to win a minimum of eight games out of 15 in order to win the match. If both the players win seven games each then the match will be decided with a tie breaker.
Siddhart Marathe, who played two matches, said, “When it is best of 15 format you need to be alert from the very first game. If you lose momentum, it is very hard to come back.”
Arnav Paparkar who went down 8-0 against Marathe has a contrasting view.
“Three set or best of 15, I don’t feel any difference. I just played my game,” added Paparkar
Ravindra Pandey, tennis coach, Solaris Club, believes that format tests a player’s mental toughness.
“When you are playing a three-set match, if you go down in the first set 6-0, you still have a chance to change your technique and play the next set and if you win it, then you have decider (third set). In the 15 games format, a player needs to be alert from the start and if the player is leading 5-0, then the opponent is under pressure and gives up the match easily,” added Pandey.
Chinmayi Bagwe who won her quarterfinal match against Aashi Chhajed 9-5 agreed that in the best of 15 format, a player needs to be more alert.
“Few mistakes could make you lose momentum in the best of 15 format. It brings a lot of pressure whereas in three set matches, you have a chance to comeback,” added Bagwe.