HINDU - Friday, Nov 1, 2002

Sanam Singh made it to the final of the boys' under-14 and under-16 sections, just as Madura Ranganathan did in the two age-groups for girls in the DSCL National Open tennis championship at the DLTA courts here on Thursday.

In the under-16 semifinals, Sanam upset top seed Rupesh Roy 7-6 (7-0), 6-0. He now plays 11th-ranked Divij Sharan, who got past eighth-seeded J. Vishnu Vardhan.

Top-seeded Sanam had no difficulty moving into the under-14 final. He defeated S.R. Kaushik in straight sets and now faces R.K. Praveen, who also did not drop a set to A.G. Peter in the semifinals.

Among the girls, it was clearly Madura's day. She stopped third-seeded S. Preethi 7-5, 6-4 in the under-16 semifinals. She now meets unseeded Oormila Ram who continued her dream run at the expense of G.K. Shweta, also unseeded.

In the under-14 section, third-seeded Madura packed off unseeded Neeta Sharma 6-0, 6-2. In the other semifinal, second-seeded Shweta defeated fourth-seeded Gayatri Krishnan 6-3, 6-2.

The results (semifinals):

• Boys: Under-14: Sanam Singh bt S.R. Kaushik 6-2, 6-4; R.K. Praveen bt A.G. Peter 6-3, 6-1.
• Under-16: Sanam Singh bt Rupesh Roy 7-6 (7-0), 6-0; Divij Sharan bt J. Vishnu Vardhan 7-5, 6-2.
• Girls: Under-14: Madura Ranganathan bt Neena Sharma 6-0, 6-2; G.K. Shweta bt Gayatri Krishnan 6-3, 6-2.
• Under-16: Oormila Ram bt G.K. Shweta 6-3, 6-1; Madura Ranganathan bt S. Preethi 7-5, 6-4. — Our Special Correspondent