Saheb Sodhi and Shruti Ahlawat kept the Indian hopes alive as they reached the boys’ and girls’ finals respectively in the Aryan Pumps ITF Asian junior tennis championships on Friday.
Saheb defeated second seed Nishant Dabas 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) to set up a title clash against fifth seed Max Batyutenko of Kazakhstan, who beat Chirag Duhan in straight sets.
Third-seeded Shruti downed sixth seed Hayu Kinoshita of Japan for the loss of six games to set up a final against Sara Saito of Japan, who surprised second seed Yu-Yun Li of Chinese Taipei.
Tanapatt Nirundorn and Woobin Shin won the boys doubles title beating the home combination of Nishant and Chirag. Suhitha Maruri partnered Sandugash Kenzhibayeva of Kazakhstan to bag the girls doubles title.
The results: Boys (semifinals): Max Batyutenko (Kaz) bt Chirag Duhan 6-3, 6-4; Saheb Sodhi bt Nishant Dabas 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3).
Doubles (final): Tanapatt Nirundorn (Tha) & Woobin Shin (Kor) bt Nishant Dabas & Chirag Duhan 2-6, 6-3, [10-4].
Girls (semifinals): Shruti Ahlawat bt Hayu Kinoshita (Jpn) 6-4, 6-2; Sara Saito (Jpn) bt Yu-Yin Li (Tpe) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (final): Sandugash Kenzhibayeva (Kaz) & Suhitha Maruri bt Erkezhan Arystanbekova & Zhanel Rustemova (Kaz) 6-4, 2-6, [10-8].
