PANAJI: Goa’s Tejas Shevde and Maharashtra’s Ritika Dawalkar clinched men’s and women’s singles title respectively at the Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2022 tennis championships on the concluding day at the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias court, Miramar on Sunday.
The annual tennis tournament by Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias, Goa’s first tennis club, was organized under the aegis of the Goa State Tennis Association (GSTA), with support from Gadre Group.
Tejas from Margao beat Karnataka’s Praneeth Venugopal 6-2, 7-6(2) in an exhibition of high-voltage tennis to bag the title for the fifth time.
Praneeth, who had won this title last year, was outplayed by Tejas in the first set with the aggressive approach of the Goan seemingly overwhelming the Bangalorean.
The second set however, witnessed a good contest between the youngsters. Both were close in terms of first-serve percentage and were difficult to separate as far as the quality of passing shots and cross-court winners were concerned.
While Praneeth sent down eight aces in the duel to none by Tejas, the last-named was magnificent at the net, winning all the points on attack-mode.
After managing to hold his serve to make it 6-6 in the crucial service game, Tejas ran away with the tie-breaker, as he raced to a 3-0 lead. Though Praneeth fought back to gain two back to back points thereafter, the scoreline did not change again for him as Tejas, who had to settle for a runner-up position last year after retiring injured in the final, clinched the set 7-2 on tie-breaker.
Earlier in the ladies singles final, Ritika Dawalkar from Maharashtra beat Goa’s Olivia Chowgule 6-1, 6-3 in a one-sided encounter.
The 12-year-old from Kolhapur came up with a clinical display to win her first senior title in Goa. Ritika looked comfortable on the move and her serve was powerful compared to her older rival. Olivia meanwhile committed a lot of errors, and struggled under the humid weather conditions as she went down without putting up a fight.
Tejas and Olivia emerged mixed-doubles champions, while Suraj Bikkannavar-Praneeth Venugopal bagged the men’s doubles title.
In the mixed-doubles final, Tejas and Olivia scored an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory over the Santosh/Melanie Chowgule combine.
Tejas’s singles final opponent, Praneeth lifted the men’s doubles crown as he partnered Suraj Bikkannavar in a 4-6,6-4,10-7 triumph over Kafil Kadvekar/Ashwin Narsinghani duo.
Ashwin was, however, successful in winning the U-16 boys trophy as he scored a stunning 6-2, 6-0 win against Saiel Gajinkar in the title clash.
