Mumbai’s Aryan Goveas stormed into the men’s singles final of the Rs 5 lakh AITA Pune Open All India Ranking Tennis Tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana on Friday and also set himself up for a grand double, winning the men’s doubles title.
Aryan Goveas
The 17-year-old Goveas outplayed Pune’s Jayesh Pungalia 6-2, 6-4 in a hard-hitting and engrossing last four encounter and then paired up with Nittten Kirrtane to get the better of second seeds S D Prajwal Dev and Suraj Prabodh of Karnataka 6-0, 6-4 in the doubles final.
In the singles final to be played on Saturday, Goveas will take on Tejas Chaukulkar, who beat Nitten Kirrtane 6-7 (4), 7-6 (0), 6-1.
In a match between two big servers and stroke players from the baseline, Goveas broke Pungalia in the third and seventh games of the first set to win 6-2. The second set was a much tighter affair, which saw Goveas and Pungalia trade a service break each early in the set, before Goveas broke Pungala in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead and then served out the match.
Results: Men’s doubles (final): Aryan Goveas/Nitten Kirrtane (Mah) bt 2-S D Prajwal Dev/Suraj Prabodh (Kar) 6-0, 6-4.
Men’s singles (semi-finals): Aryan Goveas bt Jayesh Pungalia 6-2, 6-4; Tejas Chaukulkar bt Nitten Kirrtane 6-7 (4), 7-6 (0), 6-1.