Tennis players corner glory with three titles

Tennis players achieved arguably the best success today thanks to three youngsters winning three titles at different places of the country. Bhubaneswar boy Adwithiya Patnaik bagged a double by winning both the under-14 singles and doubles crowns in the AITA Talent Series Tournament at Raipur in Chhatishgarh. Adwithiya beat his statemate and Gurukul Tennis Academy partner Shakti Ray 6-1, 6-3 in the singles final. In the doubles final, Adwithiya and Shakti defeated Andhra Pradesh duo of MMK Ramineni and D Shiv Satwik 9-3. Adwithiya missed a treble and fifth career title when he lost to Shiv Satwik 5-7, 1-6 in the under-16 singles final. According to GTA director Santosh Mallik, Adwithiya suffered muscle cramps after playing six matches in two days and could not give his 100 per cent in the u-16 singles final. Bangalore-based Orissa girl Seeulee Upadhyaya, who was injured for over a year, made a successful return to competitive tennis by winning the under-14 doubles title with Srijita Ghosh (WB) as her partner in the AITA National Series Tournament at Jassowal in Ludhiana. They beat D Mahita (AP) and Kavya Bharat (TN) 2-6, 7-5, 10-6 in the gruelling final. Earlier in the semifinals, Seeulee and Srijita beat Sneha Reddy (Maharashtra) and Dhrithi Venugopal (Karnataka) in the super tie-breaker.