City boy Arnaav Sareen beats top seed Shreyas Mehta to lift the Pune Open Sqaush title

Local boy and second seed Arnaav Sareen lived up to his billing as he beat the top-seed, Shreyas Mehta, in straight sets 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 in an awkwardly one-sided u-17 final on Wed

Local boy and second seed Arnaav Sareen lived up to his tag as the home favourite as he beat the top seed Shreyas Mehta in straight sets by an 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 scoreline in the final of the Bakeway-Srujan Isquash Junior and Senior Open Squash Championship at the Chanchala Sandeep Kodre Sports Club squash courts, Mundhwa on Wednesday.

A 25-minute delay to the match did not seem to derail Sareen as he started the game in a positive manner, taking the attack to his opposition. (HT PHOTO)

A 25-minute delay to the match did not seem to derail Sareen as he started the game in a positive manner, taking the attack to his opposition.

Despite playing a cautious game for the first four points, after the fifth, the home favourite went for the kill and showed his opponent no mercy. He wrapped up the first game within no time and heaped pressure onto his friendly adversary.

In the second game, rather than getting his act together, Mehta failed to grab the contest by the scruff of its neck, which eventually led to his own downfall.

Sareen played a number of drop shots which forced Mehta to cover more of the court than he would’ve wanted to. This eventually tired him out and the injury to his shin did not help his cause.

After consulting his team, Mehta decided to go out and compete in the third. Instead of retiring and handing the game to Sareen, they wanted him to carry on, hoping he could pull off a miraculous comeback.

That wasn’t to be as Sareen continued playing the same way as he won the third game comfortably by an 11-2 scoreline to lift the title.