Two-time national women’s tennis champion, 17-year-old Mahak Jain took another step forward as she beat Zeel Desai 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the under-21 women’s tennis semifinals of the Khelo India Youth Games at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Wednesday.
Playing with determination, the diminutive Mahak overcame a 2-4 deficit in the first set, and bounced back from being down an early break in the decider to make the final.
Zeel who has slipped in rank in the international circuit, was a bit tentative and lacked the confidence even though she fought well in the decider.
In the final, top seed Mahak will be challenged by the former Asian junior champon Mihika Yadav.
In the men’s under-17 section, Aryaan Bhatia gave a lot to cheer for host Maharashtra as he pipped top seed Sushant Dabas in three sets on the centre court, which had recently hosted the ATP Maharashtra Open.The results: Men: Under-21 (quarterfinals): Dhruv Sunish bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-3; Manish Sureshkumar bt Sai Kartheek Ganta 6-1, 2-0 (retired); Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Faisal Qamar 6-1, 6-3.
Under-17 (semifinals): Aryaan Bhatia bt Sushant Dabas 7-5, 3-6, 6-2; Dev Javia bt Krish Patel 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(1).
Women: Under-21 (semifinals): Mahak Jain bt Zeel Desai 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Mihika Yadav bt Kaavya Sawhney 6-3, 6-3. Under-17 (quarterfinals): Gargi Pawar bt Anjali Rathi 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3; Priyanshi Bhandari bt Vanshika Choudhari 6-2, 6-2; Prerna Vichare bt Sruthi Pandithurai 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5); Laksmi Sai Reddy bt Sanjana Sirimalla 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.