Salsa Aher wins title in ITF juniors in Pune

Salsa Aher outplayed fifth seed Pimrada Jattavapornvanit of Thailand 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the girls title in the Gadre Marines ITF grade-3 junior tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhama in Pune on Saturday.

It was the first title of the season for the 17-year-old Salsa, ranked 330 in the world. She had lost in the first round the previous week in Delhi. She had also made the doubles final in both weeks with Kaavya Sawhney and Erika Matsuda of Japan.

The title would propel the talented left-hander to aim for entering the Australian Open junior event in January.

In the boys final, Kasidit Samrej of Thailand overcame a slow start to beat Ryuhei Azuma of Japan in thee sets. The tall and strongly built Kasidit, with an all-round game, had lost the final last week to Sacchitt Sharma.

The results (finals):

Boys: Kasidit Samrej (THA) bt Ryuhei Azuma (JPN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Girls: Salsa Aher bt Pimrada Jattavapornvanit (THA) 6-2, 6-2.