Junior wins battle of teammates in 18-and-under division

Tuesday’s Girls 18-and-under City Tennis Tournament championship finals featured two girls that were all too familiar with each other.

Junior Madelyn Sanders and sophomore Shweta Srinivasan are teammates at Columbus North. They were part of the team that made the state tournament in the spring.

Sanders won the friendly competition, coasting to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at North.

The title match originally was scheduled for Sunday, but Srinivasan was struck by an illness that postponed the match.

Aside from playing against each other in practice for the Bull Dogs, this was the first matchup between the teammates.

“It was nice playing against each other as we come from the same school and make it to the finals,” Srinivasan said. “It also shows how competitive our team (at North) is and how well we compete.”

Sanders and Srinivasan also are playing doubles together in the city tournament. They will play in the championship finals of the women’s open championship at 6 p.m. today against Lisa Nelson and Molly Crabtree.

“We work very well together,” Sanders said. “Shweta is very consistent and keeps me in check. She is a great competitor.”

Also Tuesday, in the men 45 singles final, Dan Prestal prevailed against Benjamin Myers 6-1, 6-1.

“I was staying consistent and focusing on getting my first serves in,” Prestal said.

“Staying patience was also key.”

In the mixed B doubles final, former Columbus East player Alexa Husmann-Miller and Larry Husmann won the first set 6-0, but Matt Barbiea and Anna Barbiea captured the second set 6-4. Husmann-Miller and Husmann previled in the third set 6-1 to claim the championship.

The biggest matchup scheduled for today is the men’s open singles final between Tipton Lakes Athletic Club teaching pros Michael Blevins and Matt Malinsky, who also is the girls tennis coach at Columbus East.

The match is scheduled for 5:45 p.m.