Sai Dedeepya wins Asian title

Third seeded city girl Sai Dedeepya proved her mettle while comingthrough a tough final clash against city-mate Ameneni Shivani, who was seeded five, to clinch the girls’ singles title in the Under-14 Asian ranking tennis tournament at Balewadi in Pune on Saturday.

In a closely contested match, Dedeepya did well to claw her way back into reckoning from a second set loss to win the decider 6-2, according to information received here.

She took the title with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 verdict. It was double tragedy for Shivani, who along with partner, Ishita Parekh, lost the doubles final to the top seeded duo of Aadhya Challa and Vipasha Mehra.

Meanwhile, unseeded Poojan Desai capped off an impressive outing while scalping fifth seeded Amit Benwal in straight sets.

Results-All finals-Girls singles: Sai Dedeepya (AP 3) bt Ameneni Shivani (AP 5) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Boys singles: Poojan Desai bt Amit Benwal (5) 6-2, 6-0; Girls doubles: Aadhya Challa/Vipasha Mehra (1) bt Ameneni Shivani/Ishita Parekh 6-3, 7-5.