Sarthak Gaikwad, the winner of U-16 title, in action.
Photo Credits: The Goan
PANAJI
Akhilesh Chavan won the finals of the boys under-12 category at the Gadre Gaspar Dias Open 2023, defeating defending champion Aditya Jadhav in closely fought straight sets, while Sarthak Gaikwad defeated Siddesh Khade in the finals of the boys' under-16 event.
Akhilesh and Aditya had faced off each other in the 7th edition of the tournament last year, with Aditya winning the category. But in the eighth edition, Akhilesh trumped the last year's champion in two sets 4-3 (7-4), 4-3 (7-5) with both sets stretching into tiebreakers. Sarthak won the boys’ under-16 event defeating Siddesh 4-2, 4-3. In the semifinals leading to the final, Aditya had defeated Harshit 4-1, 4-0 while Akhilesh beat Kyan 4-0,4-0.
In the girls’ under-16 category, Ritika beat Tanvi 4-2, 4-0 and Aishwarya beat Ahana 4-0, 4-0 to reach the finals while in the girls’ under-12 category, Gargi beat Tvisha 4-1, 3-4 (10-6) to meet Harsha, who defeated her rival Bhavya 4-0, 4-0. Aiswarya beat Simran 4-1, 4-2 and Prapti beat Ritika 4-3, 0-4 (4-3) and will face each other in the ladies singles final. Tejas/Nishad beat Nilesh/Arshad 4-1, 4-1 and Vikrant/Siddhant beat Ashwin/Kafil (4-3, 2-4, 12-10) to reach the semi-finals of the men's doubles event.
In the men’s singles semifinals, Ashwin Narsinghani beat Vikrant Tandale 6-2, 4-1 with the latter retiring hurt in the second set. The matches, some of which were played out with mini-sets, are being played at the Clube Tennis de Gaspar Dias and the Panjim Gymkhana courts in the state capital.
