Pune: Playing at one of his favourite courts — Siddhant Banthia hardly broke a sweat to clinch the title in HCL Asian B1 Junior Tennis Championship defeating Sergey Fomin from Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-4 at Deccan Gymkhana on Saturday.
Such was the dominance of Siddhant that he only needed one hour and five minutes to dismantle his opponent.
“Although seeded No 4, I started the tournament as home fovourite. There was a pressure on me while I started the tournament but all went well for me. In the final, I was playing a higher seeded player but I got the advantage of big serves and dominated the match,” said Siddhant after the match.
Siddhant, who trains under Kedar Shah and Hemant Bendrey, broke his opponent in the second game to take 3-0 lead in the first set.
“I enjoyed playing at Deccan Gymkhana courts. It is a very fast court, which suits my style of playing,” added Banthia, who wrapped up the first set 6-1, breaking the opponent in the sixth game.
In the second set, Uzbek player showed more intent and made Banthia run for his points. After 4-all in the second set, Siddhant broke his opponent in the ninth game and sealed the contest in the next game.
Siddhant, who was coming into the match after winning the Under-18 national title, is happy with the way the last couple of months has been for him.
“Credit to Hemant sir and Kedar sir, both helped me a lot in the last two months. In Delhi, then in Thailand and now here I have managed to pull out victories. Start of the year was disappointing as I missed my chance to represent India in Youth Olympics. It was a heart break,” added Banthia.
In the girls final, Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand defeated fourth seeded Priska Madelyn Nugroho of Indonesia 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. The winner got 280 ITF points and trophy, while runner-up got 170 points along with a trophy.
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Results (finals)
Boys: 4-Siddhant Banthia (Ind) bt 2-Sergey Fomin (Uzb) 6-1, 6-4
Girls: 3-Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Tha) bt 4-Priska Madelyn Nugroho (Ina) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.
