Pune: Science student of the Vikhe Patil Memorial School (VPMS), Saina Deshpande, who was playing competitive tennis after a gap of nearly two months, won the double crown in Bhilai, in the ITF J5 tennis tournament by winning both girls singles and doubles trophy in an impressive fashion.
Saina’s success is a testimony to the support she has received from her school where she had enrolled since junior kg. With tennis tournaments happening Across the country almost every week and that she needs to travel to keep up her ranking points, her school has supported her a lot in balancing academics and tennis
Saina, who began playing tennis as an eight-year-old, now trains at the Bounce Academy where Kedar Shah is the head coach.
It was an incredible performance by the fourth-seeded Saina as she defeated the top-seeded Sonal Patil in the Semi-final 6-4, 7-5 to set the title clash with Sohini Mohanty whom she defeated 6-0 3-0 before her opponent retired.
Her coach Kedar Shah, had this to say about Saina’s performance
“An incredible performance by Saina throughout the tournament, especially in singles quarters winning the match that lasted for five hours followed by semis, which was 3.45 hours. Kudos to the young champ.”
In the doubles tournament she paired up with Sonal Patil and the two were top-seeded.
The Saina De-Sonal pair defeated Anya Choubey and Aishwarya Jadhav 6-3, 6-1 to win the title.
Results:
ITF J5 Tennis, Bhilai
Girls Singles:
Road to Title:
First Round: 4-Saina Deshpande (Pune) bt Shravani Khawale 6-3, 6-1.
Second round: Saina Deshpande bt Athmika Chaitanya 6-3, 6-0.
Quarterfinal: Saina Deshpande bt 5-Tamanna Takoria7-5, 3-0, 7-6 (8/6).
Semi-final: Saina Deshpande bt 1- Sonal Patil 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Final: Saina Deshpande bt Sohini Mohanty6-0,3-0 (retd).
Girl’s doubles:
Road to Title:
First Round: 1-Saina Deshpande and Sonal Patil bt Athmika Chaitanya and Vanishka Maria Vaiz 6-0, 2-1 (retd).
Quarterfinal: 1-Saina Deshpande and Sonal Patil bt Diva Bhatia and Meher Mishra7-5, 2-0 10-8.
Simi-final: 1-Saina Deshpande and Sonal Patil bt3-Niyati Kukreti and Pavitra Parikh 6-0, 6-1.
Final: 1-Saina Deshpande and Sonal Patil bt Aanya Choubey and Aishwarya Jadhav6-3, 6-1.
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