Nikshep, Pandole face off in final

Bengaluru: Top seed and Karnataka star B.R. Nikshep battled illness and a tricky rival in Vignesh Subramanyam to take his appointed berth in the final of the U-16 RT Narayan Memotial AITA Series tennis championships, here on Saturday.

Nikshep, the national champion in the category overcame an upset stomach and a stubborn challenge from Vignesh at the KSLTA courts before prevailing 61, 4-6, 6-1 in the semifinals to set up a title tilt with ninth seed Rian Pandole of Maharashtra on Sunday.

Pandole shocked second seed Sanil Jagtiani of West Bengal in a hard-fought encounter. Pandole, who lost the first set 4-6, clawed back to take the second 6-4 to set up the decider which went the distance. The Maharashtra lad, however, kept his

nerve to pull off the decider 7-6 (1) in the tie-break to book a final berth.

In girls, top seeds Snehal Mane and R. Abhinikka sailed through to the final.

Maharashtra’s Snehal outplayed Vaidehi Chaudhary of Gujarat 6-0, 6-1 while Abhinikka (TN) completed

a ‘double bagel’ in a 6-0, 6-0 verdict over Shivani Ingle.