Margot Phanthala and Kriish Tyagi with India Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali in Delhi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Top seed Kriish Tyagi recovered from the brink of defeat to beat second seed Hanu Patel 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.
It was the second victory in as many finals over a fortnight for Kriish over Hanu, following the title triumph in Guwahati last week. Kriish had turned the match after losing the first set then also. However, this was more dramatic, as Hanu was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set. Even as Kriish showed tremendous fighting spirit, Hanu looked to have been unnerved by the sight of victory.
Hanu’s nervousness was very much evident, when he dropped the second set following two double faults on the last two points. Hanu did fight to go ahead 4-3 in the decider, but Kriish played fearlessly and stroked fluently to win the next three games and the match.
In the girls’ final, Margot Phanthala of France beat top seed Sonal Patil 7-5, 6-3.
The Indian Davis Cup team coach Zeeshan Ali presented the trophies. Addressing the youngsters, Zeeshan — a World No. 2 junior in his time and ranked a career-high 126 on the ATP circuit — urged them to take care of their fitness by eating right and doing their best to capitalise on chances.
The results (finals):
Boys: Kriish Tyagi bt Hanu Patel (USA) 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
Girls: Margot Phanthala (Fra) bt Sonal Patil 7-5, 6-3.