Namita, Rutuja stun top seeds to enter finals

Pune, Dec 21 (UNI) Third seeded Namita Bal of Pune caused the biggest upset of the day as she shocked top seeded Surya Tejaswini of Andhra Pradesh 6-0, 6-3 in the Girls under 14 event at the 21st Praveen national ranking tennis championship and state ranking tennis tournament 2006 here today.

Also, third seeded Rutuja Bhosale of Pune upset top seed Kavita Mishra of Mumbai 7-6(10-8), 6-1 in the Girls under 10 event.

Namita Bal, a student of St Mary's School also placed herself for a double crown, winning the Girls under 14 doubles title along with Surya Tejaswini. The pair defeated Ishika Thirtha and Madhuri Pathare 6-2, 4-6, 10-6.

Bal will now take on second seeded Madhuri Pathere, also of Maharashtra who scraped past fourth seeded Ridhi Hegade 3-6, 7-6(9-7), 7-5 in the longest match of the day which lasted for over three hours.

In the boys section, however, top seeded Surya Pawan of AP and second seeded Tushal Thawani of Mahrashtra had no problems in enetering the finals. While Pawan defeated sixth seeded Arjun Kadhe 6-3, 6-4, Thawani, also a local boy accounted for third seeded Vishvesh Sinha of Jharkand with an identical margin.

Pawan also placed himself in line for a double crown as he paired up with Arjun Kadhe to win the boys under 14 doubles title puting out Tushal Thawani and Vishvesh Sinha's challenge by 6-4, 4-6, 10-2.

In another interesting tussle in the Girls under 10 event, top seeded Kavita Mishra was upset by third seeded Rutuja Bhosale in a nail-biting match. Rutuja put out Kavita 7-6(10-8), 6-1, to set up a final clash with Pune's Rucha Moghe.

Following are the results: Semi Final: Boys Under 14: Surya Pawan (1) bt Arjun Kadhe (6) 6-3, 6-4; Tushal Thawani (2) bt Vishvesh Sinha (3) 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Boys Under 14: Final: Surya Pawan / Arjun Kadhe bt Tushal Thawani/ Vishvesh Sinha 6-4, 4-6, 10-2.

Girls Under 14: Semi Final: Namita Bal (3) bt Surya Tejaswini (1, AP) 6-0, 6-3; Madhuri Pathare (2) bt Ridhi Hegade (4) 3-6, 7-6(9-7), 7-5.

Doubles: Girls Under 14: Final: Surya Tejaswini / Namita Bal bt Ishika Thirtha / Madhuri Pathare 6-2, 4-6, 10-6.

Boys Under 12: Semi Finals: Arjun Kadhe (1) Pune bt Rohan Bhatia (3) Nashik 7-5, 6-2; Aniruddha Darp (2) Pune bt Aditya Vyas (4) Nashik 6-1, 6-1.

Girls Under 12: Quarter Finals: Riddhi Hegade (1) bt Nupur Shinde 9-6, Sukhamani Wadhawa bt Raiyka Karachiwala 9-1, Avanee Gosavi bt Rutuja Bhosale 9-2, Gouri Byidur bt Ashana Sharma 9-0.

Girls Under 12: Semi Finals: Riddhi Hegade (1) Mumbai bt Sukhamani Wadhwa Mumbai 6-2, 6-4; Gouri Baindur Mumbai bt Avanee Gosavi Pune 6-1, 6-2.

Boys Under 10: Semi Finals: Varun Shivastav Pune bt Tejas Shewade Goa 6-2, 3-6, 15-13; Sahil Deshmukh (3) Pune bt Shivaraj Tagare Kolhapur 6-3, 7-5, Girls Under 10: Semi Finals: Rutuja Bhosale (3) Pune bt Kavita Mishra Mumbai 7-6(10-8), 6-1; Rucha Moghe Pune (7) bt Nandini Das Mumbai 6-2, 6-1.

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