National Tennis Championship 2024: Rethin Pranav, Vaidehee Chaudhari crowned singles champions

Vaidehee Chaudhari ends Maaya Revathi’s run in women’s singles final of National Tennis Championship 2024.

Unseeded Rethin Pranav R S (Tamil Nadu) and top-seeded Vaidehee Chaudhari (Gujarat) extended their winning run to clinch the titles in their respective categories at the 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship, held at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Saturday.

Rethin, who entered the main draw from the lucky loser spot in the qualifiers, played a thrilling three-set final to defeat Nitin Kumar Sinha of Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) by 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the men’s singles category, while Vaidehee beat young sensation Maaya Revathi R (Tamil Nadu) 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets to win the Fenesta Open women’s singles title for the second time in her career.

The winners received glittering trophies as the ceremony was attended by Mr. Saket Jain, Executive Director and Business Head of Fenesta Building Systems (a division of DCM Shriram Ltd.) and Mr. Rohit Rajpal (President, DLTA), Mr. Balram Singh from DLTA and Mrs. Prerna Bhambri (Four-time champion and Treasurer, DLTA). Para-athlete and a silver medallist at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Pranav Soorma was also present at the venue to motivate the athletes.

The 17-year-old began the final with accurate shots along the baseline, quickly taking a 4-1 lead in the first set before Nitin won three back-to-back games to level the score at 4-4. Rethin then broke his opponent’s serve to grab the set.

Also Read: National Tennis Championship 2024: Nitin Kumar Sinha stuns Vishnu Vardhan to reach final in men’s singles

Nitin refused to go down easily and lost only two games in the second set. The third set saw a tough contest in the beginning as scores were level at 2-2, Rethin, then upped the ante and won four games on the trot to win the final.

Earlier, the women’s singles final saw a contest of big rallies that lasted more than 1 hour and 30 minutes. Maaya started the match positively and bagged the first game before Vaidehee came roaring back and won three games in a row to take a 3-1 lead.

She then lost a game but did not lose momentum, taking a 5-2 lead with her sublime baseline shots. Maaya won one more game to bring the score to 5-3. Vaidehee then broke her opponent’s serve to win the first set.

Maaya struggled to find her feet in the second set as Vaidehee continued the onslaught of ferocious forehands. The player from Gujarat broke Maaya’s serve multiple times and took a 4-0 lead before the 15-year-old fought back to win three games in a row. However, Vaidehee denied her opponent a chance to level the match and won the next game to clinch the title.

India’s largest domestic tennis tournament — supported by DCM Shriram Ltd., a leading business conglomerate, under the aegis of All India Tennis Association and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association, is witnessing the participation of exciting talents from various parts of the country fighting for the coveted crowns.

The tournament has seen the participation of some of India’s top tennis stars in the past editions including Rohan Bopanna, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza and Rutuja Bhosale among many others.

In a thrilling boys u-18 final, Karnataka’s Aradhya Kshitiz defeated Shanker Heisnam of Manipur 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 to grab the title. The girls u-18 title went to Maharashtra’s Prisha Shinde who got the better of Diya Ramesh (Tamil Nadu) 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 in a thrilling final match.

Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.

The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category qualifying and main draw matches will be played from October 5 to October 12.

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