NOVEMBER 6: Second seed Sonal Phadke upstaged top seed Radhika Tulpule 6-2, 6-2 to win the girls' under-16 title of the West Zone junior tennis tournament at Practennis courts today.

The girls' under-14 final held no surprises as top seed Megha Vakharia beat second seed Liza Pereira 6-4, 7-6. Top seed Kedar Tembe and second seed Dipesh Rao will battle it out in the final of the boys' under-16 final tomorrow.

Tembe made it look very easy today with a 6-0, 6-1 win over third seed Abhjit Muzumdar. Muzumdar made a lot of errors and Tembe capitalised on them.

In the other semifinal, Rao ended Rohan Gajjar's dream run with a 6-1, 6-1 win. It would have been a grand double for the unseeded Gajjar who made it to the under-14 final beating third seed Ankit Doshi in a taut three-setter 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

The match saw some tense moments with both players indulging in dialogue more than tennis. With the third set tied at 4-4, it was anybody's game. At match-point, a backhand return into the net by Ankit presented Gajjar a spot in the final.

Gajjar now meets second seed Vikrant Sane who defeated Vivek Jhaveri 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

A total reversal of form in the girls' under-16 final saw the No 1 seed Radhika Tulpule completely out of rhythm.

She made a lot of unforced errors, making things easier for Sonal. ``I made a lot of mistakes. Sonal is a very good player, but she didn't have much to do today,'' said Radhika after today's loss.

``I knew I could beat her,'' said a beaming Sonal who had a wonderful tournament this time. But she rates her semi-final win over Sonia Shellar as her best here. ``I had won against Sonia only once before. So it was nice to beat her,'' revealed Sonal.

Final line-up: Boys' under-16: Kedar Tembe vs Dipesh Rao; Boys' under-14: Rohan Gajjar vs Vikrant Sane

Results: Boys' semifinals: Under-16: 1-Kedar Tembe bt 3-Abhijit Muzumdar 6-0, 6-1; 2-Dipesh Rao bt Rohan Gajjar 6-1, 6-1.

Under-14: 1-Rohan Gajjar bt 3-Ankit Doshi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 2-Vikrant Sane bt 4-Vivek Jhaveri 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Girls' finals: under-16: 2-Sonal Phadke bt 1-Radhika Tulpule 6-2, 6-2. Under-14: 1-Megha Vakharia bt 2-Liza Pereira 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

(numbers as prefixes denote seedings)

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.