New Delhi, Oct 2
Multiple Asian Games medallist Vishnu Vardhan and youngster Maaya Revathi continue their winning run as they reached the quarterfinals in their respective categories of the ongoing 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
Top seed and former national champion Vishnu had to dig deep in the second-round match against Bhicky Sagolshem of Manipur as he registered a win by 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in three sets. The Telangana player began the match on a positive note and broke Bhicky's serve twice, taking a 5-1 lead before the Manipur player won two back-to-back games to keep the first set alive.
However, Vishnu utilised his experience and played his shots with precision to win the first set. The second set witnessed a seesaw battle between both the players as the scores were level 5-5 at one point before the Manipuri player upped his ante and clinched the next two games to take the contest into the third set where Vishnu reigned supreme by a 6-2 margin.
In the women's singles category, young sensation Maaya of Tamil Nadu carried forward her momentum from the last match and produced another quality performance against Telangana's Saumya Ronde. The 15-year-old, who holds the record for the longest ITF Juniors winning streak, looked in complete control of the game and won the contest 6-3, 6-0 in straight sets.
Last year's finalist Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujarat beat Delhi's Riya Sachdeva 6-0, 6-0 without losing a game to reach the last-eight, while experienced campaigner Riya Bhatia got the better of Jharkhand's Nemha Kispotta 6-2, 6-2 in straight sets.
India's largest domestic tennis tournament is witnessing the participation of exciting talents from various parts of the country fighting for the coveted crowns. The tournament has seen the participation of some of India's top tennis stars in the past editions including Rohan Bopanna, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza and Rutuja Bhosale among many others.
Meanwhile, the men's singles category saw upsets as Nitin Kumar Sinha (RSPB) defeated fourth seed Kabir Hans of Odisha 7-6(5), 6-2 and Manipur's Bushan Haobam beat sixth-seed Ranjeet VM of Tamil Nadu 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarters.
Gujarat's Smit Patel (9th seed) continued his winning run in the boys singles U-18 category and defeated eighth-seed Akshat Dhull of Chandigarh 7-5, 6-0 in the third round. In the girls' singles U-18 category, Maharashtra's Sejal Bhutada (14th seed) beat top-seed Laxmi Dandu in a three-set thriller 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of INR 25,000 each.
The Boys' and Girls' Under-16 & Under-14 category qualifying and main draw matches will be played from October 5 to 12.