All India Tennis Tournament: Marathe lifts U-16 trophy thanks to consistent game strategy
December 25, 2019, Pune
Siddharth Marathe defeated Nishit Rahane 6-2, 6-3 to seal a victory at the Ravetkar Cup Solaris Club All India Ranking (U-16) Tennis Tournament at Mayur colony on Monday. Marathe who is 12th seeded, took 56 minutes to overcome third seed Rahane. It was the fourth time that the duo met on court and Marathe has managed to win all the four matches till now.
“I will not say that it was an easy match, although the scoreline shows a straight set victory, but every point was hard especially when the point which went into deuce. He (Rahane) is not an easy player to beat,” said Marathe who trains at PYC Hindu Gymkhana under coach Hemant Bendrey.
Opponent Rahane miss hit his shots on most of the occasions, which led to many unforced errors right from the first game.
“He was hitting the ball very slow which I found difficult to pick up. I also need to be consistent in keeping the ball inside the court,” said Rahane who trains under Sunil Kusalkar in Pashan.
First set: 23 minutes
Hitting hard shots from the baseline was how Marathe broke his opponent’s serve in every game in the first half.
“He has a very strong forehand hand and uses it to hit the balls with full speed. I need to keep the ball on the baseline and either hit it with speed or hit it slow so as to prevent him from scoring easy points. He hit a few good forehand winners on many occasions,” added Marathe, who took a 5-0 lead breaking Rahane in the first, third and fifth game respectively.
