Orissa challenge ends in Asian junior tennis

Local challenge in the Asian Under-14 Series Tennis Tournament, the first of its kind in the state, ended in a heart-break on Wednesday with the defeat of boys’ third seed Ansu Kumar Bhuyan in the quarterfinals at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. The pressure of living up to high expectations and lack of form proved to be major problems for Bhuyan, who went down in straight sets to a merciless TS Jude Raymond. Bhuyan chocked at crucial junctures as he was playing a major tournament after a gap of seven months. He admitted that the tag of ‘title favourite’ did not allow him to play his natural aggressive game. ‘‘But I will try to take the psychological pressure in my stride and perform better in the next tournament,’’ said a disheartend Bhuyan. Meanwhile, boys` top seed Shaikh Abdullah ended unseeded TS Jude Raymond’s giant-killing run to enter the singles final, while girls’ No 1 seed Mrinalini Alla was ousted in the semifinals by fourth seed P Sri Vaishnavi, who capitalised on her lethal serves and ground strokes to win in straight sets. Alla, however, won many hearts for his cheerful attitude and disciplined behaviour. In the summit clash, Hyderabad lass Vaishnavi will meet unseeed Tahira Bhatti, who overcame a mid-match slump to beat Ambika Pande in 2-1 sets. ‘‘I was mentally strong because I had beaten Mrinalini thrice earlier,’’ said a beaming Vaishnavi with her dentist parents beside her. In an all-Hyderabad boys’ singles semifinal clash, Abdullah played intelligent and flawless tennis to thrash Raymond in straight sets. Appreciated for his cool temparament and superb fitness, Abdull will play the title match against second seed Anvit Bendra, who registered an easy victory over unseeded K Sai Sandeep in another last-four match. Results: Boys’ singles: Quarterfinals: Shaikh Abdullah bt Nishant Anthony 6-4, 6-0: TS Jude Raymond bt Ansu Kumar Bhuyan 6-3, 6-2: K Sai Sandeep bt M Sai Nikhil 7-5, 6-3: Anvit Bendre bt Hardeep Sindhu 6-2, 6-2. Semifinals: S Abdullah bt TSJ Raymond 6-3, 6-4: A Bendre bt KS Sandeep 6-1, 6-3. Girls’ singles: Quarterfinals: Mrinalini Alla bt K Bhuvana 6-3, 2-6, 7-5: P Sri Vaishnavi bt Shambhavi Dixith 6-2, 6-2: Ambika Pande bt Pooja Kudesia 6-1, 6-4: Tahira Bhatti bt Sheikh Amreen 6-2, 6-0. Semifinals: PS Vaishnavi bt M Alla 6-4, 6-3: T Bhatti bt A Pande 6-0, 5-7, 6-4. Doubles (Quarterfinals): Girls: M Alla-N Reddy bt A Pande-A Sheikh 4-2, 4-0: R Kaur-R Kaur bt Adrita Banerjee-S Ghosh 1-4, 4-2, 10-8: K Bhuvana-PS Vaishnavi bt S Varma-T Bhatti 1-4, 4-0, 10-7: P Kudesia-S Dixit bt V Raju-VH Reddy 4-1, 4-0. Boys: TSJ Raymond-A Bendra bt AK Bhuyan-A Mintri 4-0, 5-3: A Vikram-S Dhankar bt KS Sandeep-B Supreet 4-2, 2-4, 10-5: BS Rahul-V Ramanan bt G Batra-R Agarwal 4-0, 4-2: SDP Dev-MS Rakshit bt A Pattnaik-S Ray 4-1, 4-1.