NISHANT DABAS PREVAILS OVER KRISHAN HOODA ON THE ROAD TO JAPAN

Nishant Dabas subdued a fighting top seed Krishan Hooda with a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory in the final of the Road to Japan National series under-16 tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Saturday.

It was the logical culmination to a superb run by Nishant, who is trained by Davis Cupper Vivek Shokeen, and a bunch of young professionals.

Leading 6-1, 5-3, the wiry Nishant, with a crafty all-round game, failed to serve out the match and let Krishan tease him longer.

However, there was no doubt that Nishant was the better equipped player this day and showed commendable temperament to slug it out when his game dipped and Krishan stepped it up to showcase his firepower.

It was an excellent week of tennis for Nishant as he beat the 11th seed Mohit Bondre, seventh seed Uddayvir Singh, fourth seed Ajay Malik and second seed Sushant Dabas, before affixing his authoritative game against the top seed.

In the girls final, the 11th seeded Sharannya Gaware proved strong in outplaying fifth seed Sandeepti Singh Rao after a tussle in the first set. Sharannya, trained by Aditya Madkekar and Kaifi Afzal in Pune and supported by Lakshya, prevailed 7-5, 6-0.

Quite creditably, Sharannya did not drop a set through the tournament in winning five matches after a bye in the first round.

The champions and runners-up in the boys and girls sections will travel to Tokyo, Japan, in October for the international competition organised by the International Lawn Tennis Club.

Quite notably, Sandeepti Singh Rao had bagged her ticket to London for the UK under-14 championship through the Road to Wimbledon event last year.

The results (finals):

Boys: NIshant Dabas bt Krishan Hooda 6-1, 5-7, 6-2.

Girls: Sharannya Gaware bt Sandeepti Singh Rao 7-5, 6-0.