Bengaluru, Aug 31: Karnataka’s young tennis players were at the centre of an action-packed day at the KSLTA World Tennis Tour Junior J30 Bengaluru, with the opening round of the main draw witnessing some closely fought contests at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium here on Monday.
Among the home players, Disha Kumar, seeded No. 3, advanced to the Round of 16 after a hard-fought 6-1, 6-7(3), 7-5 victory over Sidhhi Pandey. Aahida Singh, the No. 5 seed, also progressed comfortably, defeating Shazfa Wania SK 6-3, 6-0.
Puneeth Manohar, the 14-year-old Karnataka youngster competing in the Under-18 event, put up a strong fight before going down to Paranjay Siwach 6-7(2), 1-6. Yash Kumar was also involved in a marathon battle, eventually losing to Shlok Chauhan 6-1, 6-7(3), 5-7.
Karnataka’s Aahida Singh produced one of the more impressive performances of the day, overcoming a slow start to defeat Shazfa Wania SK 6-3, 6-0. Serving first, the 15-year-old dropped her opening two games to trail 0-2, but responded brilliantly, winning the next six of seven games to take the opening set 6-3. She then carried the momentum into the second set, racing through it 6-0 without dropping a game.
The final round of qualifying also produced mixed fortunes for Karnataka. Krishika Gautam booked her place in the main draw with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Australia’s Arya Rajesh Patil while there was heartbreak for Karnataka’s Riya Gangamma Pudiyokkada, who surrendered a set lead before losing to Avipsha Dehury 6-1, 2-6, 10-12 in a dramatic deciding tie-break. Pooja Nagaraj also came agonisingly close, losing to Samradnyee Dalvi 6-4, 4-6, 13-15.
In the boys’ final qualifying round, Arjun Manikandan lost to Pradyumna Tatachar 0-6, 3-6, while top seed Neel Kelkar and Rishi Yadav secured their places in the main draw.
RESULTS (ALL INDIANS UNLESS MENTIONED IN BRACKETS)
BOYS SINGLES (ROUND OF 32)
3-Niyanth Badrinarayanan (USA) bt Manan Rai 6-4, 6-1;
Paranjay Siwach Paranjay bt Puneeth Manohar 7-6 (2), 6-1;
Vishwak Reddy Gunampally bt Malay Keyurbhai Minjrola 7-5, 4-6, 6-3;
8-Nithinbarath KS bt Parthiv Nallagundla 7-6 (6), 6-4;
6-Fazal Ali Meer bt Sairama Sriharshit Allam (GBR) 6-0, 6-2;
Amrit Dhankar bt can Lawani (CHN) 7-6 (3), 6-1;
Varad Undre bt Niranjan Ramalingam (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 2-1 (retd);
Shlok Chauhan bt Yash Kumar 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-5.
GIRLS SINGLES (ROUND OF 32)
1-Shaivi Gaurav Dalal bt Dhaanvi Dechamma Kanjithanda 6-2, 6-1;
Tanusshri Maneni Sathesh bt Mithravinda Sathish (USA) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2;
Deepthi Venkatesan bt Tamanna Nair 6-1, 6-4;
5-Aahida Singh bt Shazfa Wania SK 6-3, 6-0;
Aditi Paturi (USA) bt Jahnavi Tammineedi 1-6, 6-1, 6-3;
8-Riddhi Shinde bt Prachi Malik 6-3, 6-4;
Bawyasri Asr bt Annika Thammineni 6-1, 6-3;
Banu Gnanasigamani Aswin bt Aaniya Thammineni 6-2, 7-5;
Akshita Antil bt Ilaiyanila Kannan 6-4, 6-3;
3-Disha Kumar bt Sidhhi Pandey 6-1, 6-7 (3), 7-5;
BOYS FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND
1-Neel Kelkar bt Shreyas Narendran (USA) 6-4, 6-2;
Pradyumna Tatachar bt Arjun Manikandan 6-0, 6-3;
Rishi Yadav bt 7-Atharva Sriramoju 6-3, 6-3;
Mahijeet Pradhan bt 8-Arya RC Thirumurthi (USA) 6-2, 2-0 (retd).
GIRLS FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND
Avipsha Dehury bt 1-Riya Gangamma Pudiyokkada1-6, 6-2, 12-10;
Sanidhya Karantoth bt Sajhi Jain 6-2, 6-1;
Krishika Gautam bt Arya Rajesh Patil (AUS) 6-2, 6-3;
Samradnyee Dalvi bt Pooja Nagaraj 4-6, 6-4, 15-13.
