Lucknow: Young Rubal Shandilya and Damini Sharma won the men’s and women’s singles crowns, respectively of the 12th Eldeco Cup RS Sagar Memorial Tennis Championship here today.
Delhi’s Rubal while playing quite aggressively outplayed Muzzafarnagar’s boy Deepak Vishwakarma 6-4, 6-2, where as second seed Damini of Noida brushed aside top seed Nupur Kaur of Maharashtra also in straights sets 7-5, 6-3, at the SDS Tennis Academy at the BBD Badminton Academy.
The duo of Saurabh Singh and Vilasier Khate outplayed Mohammad Azhar and Sanjib Keketta 7-5, 6-1 to win the men’s doubles title, where as the pair of Namita Bal and Nupar Kaur defeated Shruti Archita and Areyalee Dhavan 6-2, 6-0 in the women’s doubles final.
Rubal was much superior to Deepak as he raced to 3-0 lead in the first set itself, before losing the first game. He was aggressive on the baseline as well as on the net to win the first set with Deepak committing many an unforced errors.
In the second set too, he was 3-1 when Deepak held his serve to reduce the margin 2-3. But that was the end of Deepak’s fight, as Rubal didn’t drop even a single game then to win the title and the top purse of Rs 7800. He also earned 20 AITA points for this win.
Unlike the men’s singles final, the women’s singles final witnessed a interesting battle as neither Nupur nor Damini held their serves till 5-all in the first set. Nupur lost the next one and then Damini held her serve to wrest the set at 7-5.
A student of DPS (Vasant Kunj), Damini looked much relieved in the second set when she broke Nupur in the ninth game. Though Maharashtra girl saved two match points at 15-40, it was too late for her as a crashing forehand volley by Damini saw her hit plunging into the net.
“It was quite tough in the opening set, but in the second I was more confident in hitting,” said Damini, who collected Rs 5200 and 12 AITA points in her maiden event in Lucknow. “I would also be playing the next tournament here next week. I like the atmosphere here,” she added.
Head of Sales, ACC cement in Uttar Pradesh, Rajesh Kumar gave away the prizes. Where as Commissioner Customs, Ajay Dixit was the guest of honour. Besides them, Tarun Kumar Dixit, Director Eldeco, KP Singh, Joint Commissioner Customs, Sunil Kumar, Marketing Head ACC cement, officials of Sports Development Society and other senior tennis players were presented on the occasion. Pawan Sagar and Poonam Sagar lit the lamp at the closing ceremony.
RESULTS
Men’s singles (final): Rubal Shandilya (Dli) bt Deepak Vishwakarma (UP) 6-4, 6-2.
Men’s doubles (finals): Saurabh Singh (Dli)(S-1)/Vilasier Khate (Nta) bt Mohammad Azhar (WB) (S-2)/Sanjib Keketta (WB) 7-5, 6-1
Women’s single (finals): Damini Sharma (UP) (S-2) bt Nupar Kaur (Mah) (S-1) 7-5, 6-3.
Women’s doubles (final): Namita Bal (Mah)(S-6)/ Nupar Kaur (Mah) (S-1) bt Shruti Archita (Mah) (S-7)/ Areyalee Dhavan (Mah) 6-2,6-0
By Indian Sports News Network
