Hyderabad, June 8: Payas Jain of Delhi caused the biggest upset of the tournament when he defeated top-seeded Harmeet Desai of PSPB in the men's singles to enter the quarterfinals of the UTT National Ranking Championships at the Firefox Sports and Resorts facilities today.

When it seemed that Payas had sewn up the match when he led 9-5 in the decider, Harmeet hit back and took three consecutive points to breathe down Payas' neck with the second service on. 

But his service hit the net cord, and when Harmeet reserved for the point, Payas returned and finished well to go 10-8 up despite conceding one point to Harameet. Payas' effective backhand fetched him the crucial match point as he completed the pre-quarters 10-12, 11-5, 4-11, 11-6, 11-9.

Payas began on the wrong note, losing the first extended game to the senior pro but fighting back, he levelled the score. But there was no respite for the Delhi boy, as Harmeet called the shots again and led 2-1 before the Delhi lad pulled one back to restore parity and took the match to the decider. 

Unseeded Sourav Saha of Haryana upset sixth-seeded Jeet Chandra of the Airports Authority of India with an 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 verdict to advance to the quarterfinals. The experienced PSPB paddler kept himself in the match with crisp shots and deft placings. Jeet, an attacking player, was somewhat hampered when he could not get his forehand going.  

Earlier in the day, second-seeded Sutirtha Mukherjee went down to unseeded Jennifer Varghese 15-13, 11-8, 12-10 in an intense battle that kept everyone hooked. What triggered the win for the Maharashtra girl was the first game which she won on her fourth game point. From there, the U-17 girl never looked back as she went from strength to strength to consolidate her position before winning the third game on her second match point to enter the quarterfinals, where she will take on Archana Kamath of PSPB, who accounted for Sagarika Mukherjee of the Railways 3-0. Earlier, Sagarika toppled seventh seed Anusha Kutumbale of Madhya Pradesh 9-11, 12-10, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9.

SHAILU SHINES

Yesterday NIGHT, in a big upset in group matches, Shailu Noorbasha sent former Junior champion Swastika Ghosh packing. The Andhra girl, hailing from a poor background, put on display her skills and played brilliantly to cause a stir, winning the group match 11-9, 11-8, 11-8. After beginning passively, the Maharashtra girl, ranked No. 9 in the women's singles, failed to match Shailu's skills on a rare off day at the office. Taking a firm grip over the match, the Andhra girl toyed with the experienced opponent.  

Balamurugan, Jennifer win titles

Balamurugan Muthu Rajasekaran defeated the reigning national champion in the Under-15 Youth Boys, P.B. Abhinand, 3-1 to lift the Under-17 Youth Boys singles title. An off-colour Abhinand won one of the two extended games but failed to sustain himself on an error-prone day. Cashing in, Balamurugan completed the job quickly after dropping the third game. The Under-17 Girls title went to Jennifer Varghese, who beat Avani Tripathi of Uttar Pradesh 11-7, 11-6, 12-10. Except for the third game, where Avani put up a semblance of fight, Jennifer held sway over her throughout.

Results:

U-17 Youth Boys: Final: Murugan Muthu Rajasekaran (TN) bt P.B. Abhinand (TN) 11-4, 1210, 11-13, 11-8.

Semi-finals: Murugan Muthu Rajasekaran bt Oishik Ghosh (WB) 11-9, 11-8, 11-8; P.B. Abhinand bt Kushal Chopda (Mah) 11-5, 11-7, 11-7.

U-17 Youth Girls: Final: Jennifer Varghese (Mah) bt Avani Tripathi (UP) 11-7, 11-6, 12-10.

Semi-finals: Avani Tripathi bt Diya Bramhachary (Del) 11-4, 11-8, 8-11, 8-11, 11-8; Jennifer Varghese bt Nandini Saha (NCOE) 10-12, 11-4, 5-11, 11-6, 12-10.