Not much separated Shweta Srinivasan and Jaline Tay as they battled back and forth in Sunday morning’s City Junior Tennis Girls 18-and-under final.
Finally, after more than three hours, Srinivasan gained the upper hand. She pulled out a third-set supertiebreaker to claim the title with a 7-6 (5), 5-7, (10-6) victory.
“She was pretty much my same level, so I knew it would be close,” Srinivasan said. “I just had to play well on the tough points to convert the games and sets and eventually the match.”
The top-seeded Srinivasan, who will be a senior at Columbus North, played No. 2 singles for the Bull Dogs this spring. The second-seeded Tay, who will be a sophomore, played No. 3 singles for North.
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Srinivasan won the city 14U title three years ago and lost in the 16U finals the past two years. She looked like she might be headed for another runner-up finish when Tay jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set.
“I just hung in there and kept playing, kept swinging away and hoped for the best,” Srinivasan said.
Meanwhile, the boys 14U final also needed a third-set supertiebreaker. No. 2-seed Amritnshu Kar, who will be a seventh-grader at Northside Middle School, beat top-seeded Anvay Atram 7-5, 2-6, (10-8) in the final.
“I think I played really good, but my opponent was really good, too,” Kar said. “He made me work a lot.”
Earlier Sunday morning, Kar had beaten No. 4 seed Parth Shah 6-4, 6-0, and Atram had topped No. 3 seed Ronit Jha 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Top-seeded Joseph Kloepfer needed no drama in winning the Boys 16U division, beating Shawn Joseph 6-2, 6-2 in a battle of incoming sophomores at North. Kloepfer had lost close matches in the 14U final two years ago and in the 14U semifinals last year.
“Every time, I’ve gotten really close, but always lost in close matches,” Kloepfer said. “Now, it feels good to come out here and win it. I just put a lot of work in, and I think that really has helped, just spending hours out on the court.”
Top-seeded Aya Saad defended her Girls 14U title. Saad, who will be a sixth-grader at Southside Elementary, prevailed against No. 2-seed Japneet Kaur 6-4, 6-4.
“I was trying to be accurate and precise, but when the time was right, to go offensive and play defense and offense,” Saad said.
The other title to be decided on Sunday was in the Junior 14U division, a mixed bracket of novice or beginner boys and girls. Parth Gupta beat Teddy Littrell 6-2 in the final.
Several adult divisions also got underway on Sunday. In the men’s open bracket, top-seed Anthony Sanders survived a challenge from Logan Snyder in a 6-3, 6-4 victory to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.
