Pro Tennis League | Supersmashers outshine Sapphires

Kadhe’s victories in mixed doubles and men’s doubles prove decisive; Prashanth’s effort in vain

Arjun Kadhe rose to the occasion and steered Proveri Supersmashers to the title, winning the mixed doubles with Daria Mishina and men’s doubles with Ramkumar Ramanathan in the Pro Tennis League at the RK Khanna Stadium here on Tuesday. Supersmashers defeated Haryana Sapphires 33-25 in the final.

For Sapphires, Vijay Sundar Prashanth provided a remarkable twist to the script as he beat Ramkumar 6-5(5) in singles. After the latter had survived two match points on his serve in the 10th game to force a tie-break, Prashanth hit a superb return winner to set up a third match point in the tie-break, and wrapped it up with an inside-out forehand.

This high-quality battle brought Sapphires back into the contest as the teams were level 21-21 at that time. Ashish Sinha had put Supersmashers ahead by beating Uddayvir Singh in the tie-break while Sowjanya Bavisetti pulled one back for Sappires with a win over Daria Mishina.

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sowjanya led 3-0 in mixed doubles before Arjun’s magical partnership with Daria saw them win the rubber 6-4. That set the tone for Supersmashers before Prashanth brought the teams on par.

Arjun Kadhe and Ramkumar showed their class against Prashanth and Jeevan to win 6-3. Arjun stole the show, hitting an ace on his second serve to close out the match. In the final rubber, Supersmashers, needing just four games to lift the trophy, saw Ashish Khanna and Karan Srivastava blend power with craft to register a 6-1 win against Garvit Gupta and Arjun Uppal.

It was an enjoyable evening for the spectators, especially the kids who had assembled from all over the country for the National School Games tennis competition at the venue.

Ramkumar, Sinha win awards

Ramkumar was adjudged ‘player of the tournament’ for his all-round performance in singles and doubles.

The young Ashish Sinha, who caught the attention with his energetic tennis, bagged the ‘best young player’ award and was also presented ₹100,000 from the AITA Trust as a scholarship for the year.

Sowjanya Bavisetti and Vijay Sundar Prashanth were named the ‘player of the tournament’ in singles in the women’s and men’s sections. Saurabh Singh, Karan Srivastava and Arjun Kadhe were declared the best in their category — ex-professional, junior player and men’s doubles.

Santosh Kumar Mall, commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, gave away the prizes.

The results (final): Proveri Supersmashers bt Haryana Sapphires 33-25 (Ashish Sinha bt Uddayvir Singh 6-5(1); Daria Mishina lost to Sowjanya Bavisetti 4-6; Arjun Kadhe & Daria bt Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Sowjanya 6-4; Ramkumar Ramanathan lost to Vijay Sundar Prashanth 5-6(5); Ramkumar & Arjun bt Prashanth & Jeevan 6-3; Ashish Khanna & Karan Srivastava bt Garvit Gupta & Arjun Uppal 6-1).

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