Vijayant gains sweet revenge against Prajnesh

Chandigarh, Jan 5 (UNI) Playing a defensive-cum-controlled aggression game, fourth seed Vijayant Malik gained a sweet revenge against eighth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran by beating him in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the boys singles semi-final match of the Sunny Enclave ITF Junior World Ranking Tennis Tournament here today.

Malik, a trainee of CLTA Rural Scheme, who was beaten by Prajnesh in ITF Junior Tennis meets in Mumbai and Gurgaon before coming here, today registered his first win in three matches they have played so far. The most thrilling match lasted two hours and 15 minutes.

Tall Malik will clash with third seeded Alexey Tikhonov of Russia who snuffed out the stiff challenge of wild card entrant 14-year-old Delhi-based Yuki Bhambri 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. The impressive run of Yuki Bhambri ended in the tournament but his performance in the tournament should be a sourced of inspiration for the youngsters as he bulldozed his way into the semi-final with authoritative victories.

With the exit of 11th seeded Poorjashree Venkatesh, the Indian challenge in the girls singles ended today. Fourth seed Jessy Rompies engineered Venkatesh's ouster as the Indonesian recorded a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 verdict in the semi-final encounter.

Rompies' rival in the title clash will be another foreigner sixth seed Aleksandra Kolenichenk of Uzbekistan who overcame a spirited challenge of third seed Yana Kireva of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the centre court. The second semi-final match lasted more than two and half-hours. Both played from generally from the baseline and highball game.

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