Pune's Siddhant Banthia in boys' final of Asian Juniors

Fourth-seeded local boy, Siddhant Banthia, entered the boys' singles final of the 2nd HCL Asian B1 Junior Tennis Championship here Friday.

In the semi-final, Banthia was leading 6-2, 4-2 when top-seeded rival Dostanbek Tashbulatov of Kazakhstan conceded the match.

The Pune boy, who is supported by the state tennis association MSLTA in his tennis career along with others, will now take on second-seeded Sergey Fomin of Uzbekistan in the title clash Saturday at the Deccan Gymkhana.

Fomin scored a 6-4, 6-3 win over third-seeded Seon Yong Han Of Korea in the other semi-final.

In the girls' singles, third-seeded Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand upset top-seeded Hong Yi Cody Wong of Hong Kong 7-6 (4), 6-2.

She set up an all-Thai final with eighth-seeded Mai Napatt Nirundorn, who struggled before getting past fourth- seeded Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the other semi-final match.

Mananchaya Sawangkaew later paired with Himari Sato of Japan to take the girls' doubles title.

In the final, they put out Saki Imamura Of Japan and Punnin Kovapitukted of Thailand 7-5, 6-3.

Third-seeded Christian Didier Chin Of Malaysia and Uzbek Fomin carved out a 7-6(7-5), 6-3 win over the Indian pair of Dev Javia and Mann Shah to win the boys' doubles crown.