Chandrika shocks top seed Apoorva in junior tennis tourney

Unseeded Chandrika Joshi came up with a fine display to shock the top seed S.B. Apoorva in an all-Karnataka girls singles semi-finals 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (1) here on Thursday and set up a title clash with Tamil Nadu's Shruthi P. in the Under-14 Championship Series junior tennis tournament.

Chandrika had Apoorva on the run with her sensible baseline game and won the first set at 6-2, but lapsed into unforced errors in the second. In the decider, Chandrika showed better focus and consistency and prevailed in the tie-breaker.

Shruthi also fought her way to a creditable 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(3) victory over the second seed K.S. Shimran of Karnataka.

In the boys singles semi-finals, top seed Rajesh Kannan of Tamil Nadu subdued third seed Sandesh Kantimahanti of Karnataka 7-6(5), 6-2, while unseeded Subash Paramasivam (Tamil Nadu) defeated A. Deepak of Karnataka 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Vishal Reddy and Nikhil Niranjan bagged the boys doubles title beating Sandesh Kantimahanathi and Arjun Sriram 6-3, 7-5, in an all-Karnataka final.

The results (semi-finals):

Boys singles: Rajesh Kannan (TN) bt Sandesh Kantimahanthi (Kar)7-6 (5), 6-2; Subash Paramasivam (TN) bt Deepak A. (Kar) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Girls singles: Chandrika Joshi (Kar) bt S.B. Apoorva (Kar) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (1); Shruthi P (TN) bt Shimran K.S. (Kar) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (3).

Boys doubles final: Vishal Reddy / Nikhil Niranjan bt Sandesh K / Arjun Sriram 6-3, 7-5.

Girls doubles semi-finals (mini sets): Divija / Paarvi Patil bt Kanika Sivaraman / Viveha Sivaraman 4-1, 4-1; KS Shimran / S.B. Apoorva bt Shruthi P / Chandrika Joshi 4-2, 5-3.