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These are the final results of sub-junior nationals -

Boys: Under-16: Suresh Dhakshineswar bt Siddhant Banthia 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(1).

Under-14: Ajay Malik bt VM Sandeep 6-4, 6-4.

Girls: Under-16: Salsa Aher bt Prinkle Singh 6-2, 6-0.

Under-14: Sarah Dev bt Sharannya Gaware 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

2 of the 4 winners in boys under 14 and girls under 16 were surprising new names.

It seems Dhakshineswar Suresh is already a 6 feet 3 inches tall. Hope this kid develops well. This is a report from Hindu which has photographs of both under 16 winners -

Suresh Dhakshineswar beats Siddhant in the final

Interesting story about the under-14 champion Ajay Malik:

http://m.firstpost.com/sports/meet-nati ... 56872.html

Somdev posted the above link on his Facebook page, and later I found Vishnu too had posted on FB about Ajay Malik. What a great story of courage and endurance. I hope he gets lots of additional support now.

Now AITA wants to make it mandatory for top players to play nationals but has provided an exemption clause -

AITA wants top players for Nationals

It does not make much sense for the likes of Yuki and RamK to waste a week in the middle of the season playing nationals. They should be getting financial assistance irrespective of whether they play nationals or not.

Despite AITA's direction ( as put in previous post), the field for national tennis continues to be poor.

These are the seeds for this week's event -

Men: 1. Suraj Prabodh, 2. Haadin Bawa, 3. Kunal Anand, 4. Dalwinder Singh, 5. Prajwal Dev, 6. Jatin Dahiya, 7. Nitten Kirrtane, 8. Faisal Qamar.

Women: 1. Zeel Desai, 2. Sai Samhitha, 3. Shweta Rana, 4. Nithya Raj, 5. Mahak Jain, 6. Prerna Bhambri, 7. Mihika Yadav, 8. Sara Yadav.

Boys: 1. Nitin Kumar Sinha, 2. Siddhant Banthia, 3. Dhruv Sunish, 4. Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy, 5. Megh Bhargav Patel, 6.Rithvik Choudary, 7. Sacchit Sharma, 8. Mritunjay Badola.

Girls: 1. Akanksha Bhan, 2. Tanisha Kashyap, 3. Vaidehi Chaudhari, 4. Salsa Aher, 5. Shivani Manjanna, 6. Humera Shaikh, 7. Shivani Sravya, 8. Yubrani Banerjee.

On the mens side, it is very poor list with not even 1 among top 10 singles players are playing. Haadin Bava could well be the favourite here with Arjun Kadhe providing tough competition.

Womens field has a lot of young stars in Zeel, Mahak and Mihika. So, it will be more interesting to follow.

These are the round of 16 results at Fenesta nationals -

Men:
(1) Suraj Prabodh bt Arman Bhatia 6-3, 6-1;
(7) Nitten Kirrtane bt Siddhant Banthia 6-2, 6-1;
Mohit Mayur bt (3) Kunal Anand 7-6(7), 7-6(4);
Manish Sureshkumar bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-1, 6-0;
Nitin Kumar Sinha bt (8) Faisal Qamar 6-3, 6-2;
(4) Dalwinder Singh bt Calvin Golmei 6-1, 6-1;
Arjun Kadhe bt Hardeep Singh Sandhu 7-5, 6-1;
(2) Haadin Bava bt Jayesh Pungliya 7-5, 6-4.

Women:
(1) Zeel Desai bt Shreya Gulia 6-2, 6-0;
Humera Shaikh bt Sara Yadav 6-3, 6-4;
Bhuvana Kalva bt Shweta Rana 6-2, 6-4;
(6)Prerna Bhambri bt Moulika Ram 6-0, 6-0;
Prinkle Singh w.o. Yubrani Banerjee (medical);
Tanisha Kashyap bt NIthya Raj 6-4, 6-1;
Mahak Jain bt Snehadevi Reddy 6-2, 6-2;
(2) Sai Samhitha bt Soha Sadiq 6-3, 6-1.

Boys:
Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Nikit Reddy 6-4, 6-1;
Sacchitt Sharma bt Krishan Hooda 6-2, 6-3;
Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy bt Shubham Malhotra 6-0, 6-4;
Fardeen Qamar bt Sanket Tomar 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(1);
Dev Javia bt Mritunjay Badola 6-3, 6-0;
Dhruv Sunish bt Madhwin Kamath 6-3, 6-1;
Amit Beniwal bt Rhythm Malhotra 6-4, 7-5;
Siddhant Banthia bt Calvin Golmei 6-4, 6-4.

Girls:
Akanksha Bhan bt Kritika Chhabra 6-2, 6-2;
Shivani Manjanna bt Chandrika Joshi 6-4, 6-2;
Sathwika Sama bt Salsa Aher 6-2, 6-3;
Prerna Vichare bt Sai Dedeepya 6-2, 6-2;
Humera Sahikh bt Prinkle Singh 6-1, 6-2;
Vaidehi Chaudhari bt HImaanshika 6-1, 6-1;
Sravya Shivani bt Bhakti Parwani 6-0, 6-1;
Tanisha Kashyap bt Muskan Gupta 6-0, 6-4.

Nitin Kumar Sinha, Tanisha Kashyap and Humera Sheikh have made QF in 2 events.

The seedings on mens singles side are lopsided. If the seedings were based on ATP rankings, Haadin Bava, Aryan Goveas and Arjun Kadhe would have been the top 3 seeds. Here Haadin and Aryan met other in the first round with Haadin winning in 3 close sets. Now, Arjun and Haadin meet other in QF.

QF results -

Men:
(1) Suraj Prabodh bt Nitten Kirrtane 6-2, 7-6(4);
Manish Sureshkumar bt Mohit Mayur 1-6, 6-1, 6-1;
(4) Dalwinder Singh bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 4-6, 6-4, 6-4;
(2) Haadin Bava bt Arjun Kadhe 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3.

Women:
(1) Zeel Desai bt Humera Shaikh 6-2, 6-4;
Bhuvana Kalva bt (6)Prerna Bhambri 0-6, 6-4, 6-3;
Tanisha Kashyap bt Prinkle Singh 6-1, 6-0;
(5) Mahak Jain bt (2) Sai Samhitha 6-2, 6-2.

Boys:
(7) Sacchitt Sharma bt (1) Nitin Kumar Sinha 7-5, 6-0;
(4) Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy bt Fardeen Qamar 2-6, 7-5, 6-2;
(3) Dhruv Sunish bt Dev Javia 3-6, 6-1, 6-3;
(2) Siddhant Banthia bt Amit Beniwal 6-0, 6-0.

Girls:
(1) Akanksha Bhan bt (5) Shivani Manjanna 6-2, 6-2;
(13)Sathwika Sama bt Prerna Vichare 7-6(6), 6-1;
(3) Vaidehi Chaudhari bt (6) Humera Shaikh 6-1, 6-3;
(2) Tanisha Kashyap bt (7) Sravya Shivani 6-2, 6-1.

In mens singles, Haadin Bava has won 3 decent wins in the first 3 rounds - against Aryan Goveas, Jayesh Pungaliya and now Arjun Kadhe. He looks the favorite for the title now.

15 year old Tanisha Kashyap is the only one to make SF in both girls and womens events. Of course, Mahak and Zeel are not playing in the under 18 event. Else, they would have made it too. Mahak has had a couple of very wins over Snehadevi Reddy and Sai Samitha in last 2 rounds.

I knew Haadin had it in him ... He is having a good run! ... Tough day for Nitin Kumar. One day you are in the QF of both, and the next day you're out from both draws.

These are today's results -

Men (semifinals): Suraj Prabodh bt Manish Sureshkumar 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2; Dalwinder Singh bt Haadin Bava 7-5, 6-0.

Women (semifinals): Zeel Desai beat Bhuvana Kalva 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(0); Mahak Jain beat Tanisha Kashyap 6-2, 6-1.

Boys (semifinals): Sacchitt Sharma beat Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy 6-2, 2-6, 7-5; Dhruv Sunish beat Siddhant Banthia 6-4, 6-3.

Girls (semifinals): Akanksha Bhan bt Sathwika Sama 6-1, 3-6, 6-4; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Tanisha Kashyap 7-6(4), 7-5.

Surprising final in mens singles between Suraj Prabodh and Dalwinder Singh - 2 players who have not done so well at international level.

Womens final is going to be a cracker between 18 year old Zeel and 16 year old Mahak. They have played each other 4 times in last year or so in ITF juniors and pros and Zeel has won thrice and Mahak once.

16 year old Mahak Jain is the national womens singles champion. She beat Zeel Desai 75 63 in the final.

Mahak is clearly one of the most talented ones to come out on girls side in last few years.

Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes became national men's champion at the age of 16. Let us hope that Mahak Jain follows in their trail as a world-class tennis player on the women's side.

jayakris wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:08 pm I knew Haadin had it in him

I can’t let it go without a groan!

sameerph wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 5:57 am16 year old Mahak Jain is the national womens singles champion. She beat Zeel Desai 75 63 in the final. Mahak is clearly one of the most talented ones to come out on girls side in last few years.

If I am not mistaken, based on some of the recent pictures, I see that Mahak has worked on her lower body a bit. Mahesh once said, "show me the legs and I will show you a champion" or something like that, and I am a big believer in that too. This was a big win for her. Yes, clearly the best to come out in the juniors for a while. I hope she won't skip junior events (at least the top level competitive events) for at least another year, while mixing in pro events like she has done this year.

S_K_S wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 10:29 am

jayakris wrote: ↑Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:08 pm I knew Haadin had it in him

I can’t let it go without a groan!

i was hoping for somebody to say "bwaa..waa... groan!"

Ok, so, Mahesh is a leg person ... and so is Jay

PKBasu wrote: ↑Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:55 am Ramesh Krishnan and Leander Paes became national men's champion at the age of 16. Let us hope that Mahak Jain follows in their trail as a world-class tennis player on the women's side.

And Sunil Kumar Sipeaya too. I remember when I was growing up in interior Telangana village, had taken an Eenadu newspaper cutout of him as it was my only access to Sports News back then. Unfortunately, his career never took off .

Great to see Mahak win though - I see Ankita in quite a few pictures with Mahak which bodes well as her mentor given the experience should would have with her own as well as from the learnings on Yuki's career on what it takes to be at the top.