New Delhi, October 13, 2006 A new men’s National champion will be crowned on Saturday in the DSCL Open tennis championship. In the semi-finals on Friday, high quality tennis saw Vishnu Vardhan and Purav Raja making it to the final in style. Purav Raja, wearing a yellow bandana and coached by Sandeep Kirtane fought  tooth and nail to down Sanam Singh 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the first semi-final while Vishnu Vardhan outplayed Ashutosh Singh 6-2, 6-1.

The ladies singles final will be between last year’s champion Isha Lakhani and Sandhya Nagaraj. Isha Lakhani, despite knee trouble waged a spirited battle to get past Sonal Phadke 6-3, 6-1 while Sandhya Nagaraj ended giant killer Vishaka Sheoran’s spree, winning 6-0, 6-4.

There were big upsets in the junior section as well with top seed Sumit Prakash Gupta crashing out. Sriram Balaji thumped Sumit 6-3, 6-4 while Fariz Mohammad beat Arnav Jain in the second semi-final 6-2,6-2.

The under-18 girls final will be between Kelsey Sundaram and Kyra Shroff. Kelsey, from Chennai overplayed Madura Ranganathan 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 while Kyra beat beat Parija Maloo 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

The quality of tennis on Friday was top class as the men’s semi-finals saw hot stuff in the heat. If Vishnu Vardhan, from Andhra Pradesh played an all-round game against seasoned campaigner Ashutosh Singh of Delhi, Purav Raja showed he is a fighter to the core.

Vishnu Vardhan has competed regularly in ITF tournaments at home and was waiting for the chance to come big on a stage as big as the DSCL Nationals. Today, he was in awesome  form, serving and volleying and controlling the match well. His win was marked by hard shots from all parts of the court.

Sanam Singh was one player who showed good shots but did not do justice to his stature. Purav Raja from Mumbai was struggling to match Sanam but as the match wore on, Purav showed he was not going to give up. There were instances when Purav looked worn out, but he had luck as well on his side to get some free points from Sanam.

Sanam led in the first and third sets comfortably, but lacked the finish which caused his downfall in the semifinal today.

Results (semi-finals):

Men’s: Purav Raja bt Sanam Singh 7-5, 3-6, 6-4; Vishnu Vardhan bt Ashutosh Singh  6-2, 6-1.

Boys(under-18): Sriram Balaji bt Sumit Prakash Gupta 6-3, 6-4 while Fariz Mohammad bt Arnav Jain 6-2, 6-2.

Ladies: Isha Lakhani bt Sonal Phadke 6-3, 6-1; Sandhya Nagaraj bt  Vishaka Sheoran 6-0, 6-4.

Girls (under-18): Kelsey Sundaram bt Madura Ranganathan 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4; Kyra Shroff bt Parija Maloo 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.