In the end, he won the under-14 second round match in three sets but succumbed in the under-16 first round, again in three sets, in the SK Pandit Memorial AITA Zonal tennis tournament.

The 12-year-old, who has been selected for the Britania Amritraj Tennis Academy and will be going there next month, served for the match in the under-16 against Jay Arora with the scores at 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) in Rastogi's favour.

He dropped his serve and went into tie-breaker where he went down 3-6 facing three match points. Nearly four hours on court, the country's No 1 under-14 player belted a great forehand down the line and then a sprinting backhand volley to level scores at 6-6.

The 15-year-old Arora, who had lost to Rastogi in Nashik, stayed calm and served out the two remaining points, finishing the match with a beyond-Rastogi's-reach forehand. Rastogi beatIndrakumar Mahajan 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the under-14.

Results

Boys' under-16 (second round): Mehul Kamdar (Mah) bt Jai Mehta (Mah) 7-5, 6-3; Vivek Jhaveri (Mah) bt Brijesh Lodha (Mah) 6-2, 7-5; Alok Bhide (Mah) bt Gaurav Kumar (Mah) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), Gavryl Fernandes (Mah) bt Varun Mangikar (Mah) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2; Arpan Lakhani (Mah) bt Aniker Joglekar (Mah) 6-3, 6-2; Akshay Tanna (Mah) bt Abedin Sham (Mah) 6-2, 6-2; Kunal Bhojwani (Mah) bt Aashay Deshmukh (Mah) 3-1 (conceded); Pratim Parekh (Mah) bt Abhishek Tamhane (Mah) 6-1, 6-0; Devendra Singh Bhusari (Guj) bt Pratik Sharma (Mah) 6-2, 1-6, 6-2; Karan Doctor (Mah) bt Vikrant Sane (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Rohan Gajjar (Mah) bt Krishne Tanna (Mah) 6-4, 6-1; Amit Karunakaran (Mah) bt Ankush Chhabra (Mah) 6-0, 6-1; Harshit Sharma (Mah) bt Dhananjay Kawde (Mah) 6-2, 6-0; Ankit Doshi (Mah) bt Rohan Dalvi (Mah) 6-1, 6-1.Under-14 (pre-quarters): Rohan Gajjar (Mah) bt Saurabh Kohli (Mah) 6-0, 6-1; Karan Rastogi (Mah) bt Indrakumar Mahajan (MP) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4;Ankit Doshi (Mah) bt Rishi Behl (Mah) 6-2, 6-2; Krishne Tanna (Mah) bt Ashvir Khurana (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Sujay Mahadevan (Mah) bt Aditya Rao 6-2, 6-1; Devendra Singh Bhusari (Guj) bt Imran Allana (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Amit Karunakaran (Mah) bt Trishu Rao (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Vikrant Sane (Mah) bt Darshan Kedia 6-3, 1-6, 6-0.

Girls under-14 (first round): Megha Vakharia (Mah) bt Mayura Bandekar (Mah) 6-3, 6-1; Deepa Chakraborty (Mah) bt Krushmi Chheda (Mah) 6-3, 7-5; Shradha Lodha (Mah) bt Saniya Mirza (AP) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3; Johann Fernandes (Mah) bt Uttara Rao (Mah) 6-1, 6-2; Medini Sharma (Mah) bt Ridhima Raina (Mah) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4; Lata Asudani (Mah) bt Anuradha Gurung (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Noopur Desai (Mah) bt Anuja Parikh (Mah) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Isha Lakhani (Mah) bt Ronak Shah (Mah) 6-2, 6-3.