Pune: Local girl Vasanti Shinde and Karnataka’s S D Prajwal Dev knocked out higher seeds to make it to the semi-finals of their respective categories in the Walchand Cup National Series Under-16 junior tennis tournament being organised and hosted by Deccan Gymkhana, on Thursday.
In a quarter-final match of the boy’s section that lasted for two hours, fifth seed Prajwal Dev got the better of State-mate and second seed B R Nikshep. Prajwal Dev won the first set 6-4, before losing the second 3-6. The fifth seed kept his composure to win the decider 6-4 to make it to the last four.
In another two-hour battle, local lad Indra Patwardhan edged past State-mate Sahil Gaware 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
In the girls section, sixth seed Shinde from Pune was a bit too good for Andhra’s fourth seed Rashmitha Reddy, winning the match 6-2, 6-1 in 75 minutes. Another Maharashtra girl, third seed Devanshi Bhimjiyani didn’t have too many problems in packing off fifth seed Andhra girl Shruti Gunuganti 6-2, 6-1 in an hour.
Vasudev Vijayaraman from Tamil Nadu is the only unseeded player to have made it to the semi-finals. Vijayaraman won the battle of unseeded players, beating Mumbai’s Aryan Goveas 6-3, 6-2.
In the doubles finals to be played on Friday, Dalwindar Singh/Dheer Bhatti will take on S.D. Prajwal Dev/ Vasudev Vijayaraman. The girls doubles final will see Dhruti Venugopal/Vasanti Shinde take on R.Abhinikka/A.Shamima.
RESULTS
Boys, Singles, QF: 7-Dalwindar Singh (Pun) bt Shrey Gupta (Har) 7-6 (2), 6-3; 6-Indra Patwardhan (Mah) bt Sahil Gaware (Mah) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; Vasudev Vijayaraman (TN) bt Aryan Goveas (Mah) 6-3, 6-2; 5-S.D.Prajwal Dev (Ktk) bt 2-B.R. Nikshep (Ktk) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4;
Girls, Singles, QF: 1-Vanshika Sawhney (Dli) bt 7-Mihika Yadav (Mah) 6-3, 6-1; 3-Devanshi Bhimjiyani (Mah) bt 5-Shruta Gunuganti (AP) 6-2, 6-1; 6-Vasanthi Shinde (Mah) bt 4-Rashmitha Reddy (AP) 6-2, 6-1; 2-Akshara Iska (AP) bt Zeel Desai (Guj) 7-5, 6-1.
Boys, Doubles; SF: Dalwindar Singh/ Dheer Bhatti bt Paramveer Bajwa/Vishnu Prasad 7-5, 6-4; S.D. Prajwal Dev/ Vasudev Vijayaraman bt Aditya Gokhale/Dharnidhar Mishra 3-6, 6-1, 10-6;
Girls; Doubles, SF: Dhruti Venugopal/Vasanti Shinde bt Snehal Mane/Zeel Desai 6-3, 6-1; R.Abhinikka/ A.Shamima bt Mihika Yadav/ Nandini Sharma 7-6 (3), 3-6, 10-6;
By Indian Sports News Network