While Benjamin looked comfortable in the first set, he struggled in the second. Down 15-40, 4-5, Pratim saved two matchpoints to make it 5-5. Both held on to their serves as the match went into the tie-breaker.

The tie-breaker was a one-sided affair as Parikh's spate of unforced errors handed Benjamin the Rs 1500 title.

Top seed Sonal Phadke scored a thumping 6-1 6-0 win over diminutive Isha Lakhani, seeded seventh, to win the girls under-16 final.

The lanky Sonal made easy work of her opponent in a match which lasted little over half an hour. ``The last two times I had met Isha she gave me a run for my money,'' said the soft-spoken Sonal, a first year student at SydenhamCollege.

Earlier, in the under-14 category, Nishang Mishra and Megha Vakharia emerged victorious. Mishra, seeded third shocked top seed Amanjyot Singh while Vakharia overcame Isha.

In the Sil State ranking tournament, second seed Akshay Chelappa upstaged top seed Keshavan Narasimhan to clinch the boys under-12 title. Akshay won 6-4 6-3.

Results (all finals)

AITA Junior Nationals: Boys (u-16): 4-Benjamin Xavier bt 3-Pratim Parikh 7-5 7-6 (7-1); u-14: 3-Nishang Mishra bt 1-Amanjyot Singh 6-2 7-5; Girls (u-16): 1-Sonal Phadke bt 7-Isha Lakhani 6-1 6-0; u-14: 1-Megha Vakharia bt 2-Isha Lakhani 6-2 6-2.

(State ranking): Boys (u-12): 2-Akshay Chelappa bt 1-Keshavan Narasimhan 6-4 6-3; u-10: 1-Arnav Jain bt 6-Bhavin Shelarka 5-7 6-3 6-4; Girls (u-12): 1-Kartiki Bhat bt 2-Lizenka Pereira 6-2 6-2.