Sharon, Ratnika upset top seeds Geetika, Rishika

New Delhi, Oct 11 (UNI) Unheralded Goan Sharon Paul and Chandigarh's Ratnika Batra pulled off the biggest upset in the DSCL National junior tennis championship when they toppled top seed Gopika Kapoor and Rishika Sunkara in the U-16 and U-14 quarterfinals respectively here today Sharon overpowered Gopika 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 while Ratnika ousted Rishika 6-0, 6-3 to storm into the semifinals of their respective categories.

Sharon was in great form and stroked the ball with good timing against the Delhi girl, who was expected to win the match by virtue of her top billing. In a match which went the full distance, the 11th seed Sharon delighted the sparse gathering with her focus and ability to stay cool on the big points.

In U-14 section, Ratnika, egged on by her parents, showed good court craft and hit strokes with penetration against her fancied rival to win the first set without dropping a game. In the second set, there was a mini-fightback, but it was not good enough to stop Ratnika from walking away with a win.

In the boys U-16, yesterday's hero and top seed Kaza Vinayak Sharma could not produce the same form and went down to seventh seed Jugal Marfatia 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Results: Quarter finals: Boys' U-16: Shiva Sangwan bt Shantanu Rajput 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4; Jugal Marfatia bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-3; Prateek Bhambri bt Saurabh Singh 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-1; S Siddharth bt Irfan Hussain 6-3, 6-2 Girls' U-16 Sharon Paul bt Gopika Kapoor 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-4; Rishika Sunkara bt Natasha Palha 6-3, 6-1; Ratnika Batra bt Nimisha Mohan 6-4, 6-1; Ankita Raina bt Arushi Sharma 6-0, 4-6, 6-0; Boys' U-14: Siddharth Rawat bt Tushal Thawani 6-2, 6-0; Mohit Mayur bt Arjun Khade 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; Rohit Bisht bt Saurabh Singh 6-4, 6-3; Ronit Bisht bt Pradeep Reddy 6-3, 6-2 Girls' U-14: Ratnika Batra bt Rishika Sunkara 6-0, 6-3; Shweta C Rana bt Vaidehi Bhagwat 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Natasha Palha bt Aishwarya Aggarwal 6-4, 6-1; Ankita Raina bt Prarthana Thombore 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

UNI