Bangalore, April 19 (IANS) S. Boopathy of Tamil Nadu and Richa D. Chougule of Maharashtra claimed a grand double each in the boys and girls sections respectively in the KTPPA-AITA National Series Under-12 tennis tournament which concluded here Saturday.
Second seeded Boopathy humbled top seed Dev Javia of Gujarat 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the boys final. Boopathy had won the doubles title partnering Mahesh Mohapatra of Orissa Friday.
Richa Chougle, who was seeded 11th, finished her fine run in the event, beating top seed, Mubashira Anjum Shaik of Andhra Pradesh 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the girls singles final. Richa, earlier had won the girls doubles title with Prernra Vichare, also of Maharashtra.
The boys final, which lasted close to 170 minutes, was an engrossing affair as Boopathy from Coimbatore was truly tested by a defensive but canny Baroda lad Dev Javia. It was anyone’s match till the decider, before Boopathy seized his chance to end Dev’s challenge.
Pune-based Richa certainly punched above her class in this tournament. After dropping the first set, Richa began feeding high balls to her rival and slowed down the pace to force Mubashira into a spate of errors.
Richa won the second set 6-2 and did an encore in the decider to close the set and match again at 6-2.
