Playing with a calm and composed attitude helped Ruma Gaikwari defeat Shravani Khawale 6-2, 6-1, in the all-India ranking under-16 tennis championship played at Mayur colony on Monday.
Gaikwari needed only 47 minutes to overcome her fancied opponent.
“I just played wide so she (Shravani) could not reach the ball easily.”
“I was calm and composed throughout the match which helped me win my games easily,” Gaikwari said.
It did not started off well for Gaikwari as she was broken in the first game by Khawale.
From the second game onwards, she controlled the match.
“It was not a great start of the game, but once I broke her (Shravani) in the second game it all went in my favour,” added Gaikwari.
From one-all in the first set, Gaikwari kept hitting her shots nicely and did not allow Khawale any easy points or the chance to get into any flow.
A few games went into deuce, but Gaikwari came out with timely forehand cross court returns to dismantle her opponent.
“I had a very good semifinal match, but today none of my shots were going in the right direction. I was not able to control my game,” Khawale said later.
{{/usCountry}}“I had a very good semifinal match, but today none of my shots were going in the right direction. I was not able to control my game,” Khawale said later.
{{/usCountry}}A class 7 student of DES school, Gaikwari wrapped up the first set 6-2 breaking Khawale in the fourth, sixth and eighth game and showing no sign of slowing down whatsoever.
The second set turned out to be much easier for the in-form Gaikwari as she won four games on the trot to take an insurmountable lead.
“Creating different angles was my aim right from the start and I managed that well today,” added Gaikwari.
Nothing went Khawale’s way as she only held her serve in the sixth game. Her serve began to falter as well and surrendered the match in the next game.
Results
Girls, final: Ruma Gaikwari bt Shravani Khawale 6-2, 6-1.
Boys, final: Sahil Tambat bt Siddharth Jadli 6-2, 3-0 conceded
From the Baseline
Girls
Ruma Gaikwari (Winner)
I did not wanted to give her easy points, so I played my shots with various angles which helped me to win.
Shravani Khawale: (Runner-up)
It was not my day. Nothing went right from the beginning. The lesson which I learnt after this defeat is to never think too much and focus on the present.
Boys
Sahil Tambat (Winner)
It is the first title of my tennis career. I am happy to win it. The tournament was nicely set up for me. Playing against Daksh Agarwal was the toughest.
Siddharth Jadli (Runner-up)
I was mentally tired during final and I was down 0-3 in the second set, so it was hard to come back from that stage so I decided to give up.