Chennai, October 24: Eleventh seed Sahil Rawat edged second seed Ritvik Gupta 14-12 in the deciding game to win the U17 boys' singles title, while sixth seed Ananya Muralidharan was crowned the U17 girls' singles champion at the WTT Youth Contender Chennai 2026, presented by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, at the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University here on Saturday.

The four-day tournament, being held from October 23 to 26, features 12 categories from U11 to U19.

Sahil, who had not dropped a single game in the tournament before the final, raced to a two-game lead before Ritvik fought back to level the match. The 16-year-old held his nerve in the decider to win 11-6, 11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 14-12.

Sahil had beaten Bhaskar Sugra, who knocked out top seed Nikkhil Mannath on Friday, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 in the quarterfinals and ended the dream run of 13-year-old Himon Mondal 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 in the semifinals. Mondal had stunned ninth seed Rupam Sardar 11-6, 4-11, 13-11, 11-8 in the last eight.

Ritvik needed five games to get past sixth seed Akshay Kirikara 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 6-11, 11-8 in the semifinals. Kirikara had blanked third seed Aditya Das 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 in the quarterfinals.

In the U17 girls' singles, Ananya stunned top seed Divyanshi Bhowmick 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6 in the quarterfinals and came from a game down to beat fifth seed Naisha Rewaskar 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 in the semifinals. She then blanked fourth seed Hansini Mathan 11-4, 11-4, 12-10 in the final.

Naisha had come back from two games down to beat third seed Prisha Goel 6-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6, while Hansini edged seventh seed Ahona Ray 11-4, 11-13, 12-14, 11-8, 11-4 and got the better of eighth seed Sreejani Chakraborty 13-11, 11-9, 11-5.

In the U13 boys' singles final, seventh seed Dev Pranav Bhatt came from a game down to beat top seed Koh Wei Yeow of Malaysia 6-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6. The 13-year-old had packed off Sri Lanka's Pitiyage Silva 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 in the quarterfinals and eighth seed Akhil Ramakrishnan of USA 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 in the semifinals. Earlier, 19th seed Gem Mahalanabish upset second seed Rabeah Al-Kuwari of Qatar 14-12, 11-8, 11-4 in the pre-quarterfinals.

The 11-year-old top seed Divija Paul won the U13 girls' singles title, beating third seed Sreosree Chakraborty 11-4, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 in the final. Divija survived a scare against 13th seed Pehel Gupta in the semifinals, winning 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 3-11, 11-9, while Sreosree outlasted second seed Ishani Gogoi 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 7-11, 11-7. Pehel had earlier knocked out fourth seed Harshitha Nurani 11-9, 13-11, 7-11, 11-9 in the quarterfinals.

The U15 and U19 mixed doubles finals will be played on Sunday, when the U11, U15 and U19 singles events also get under way.