Pune: Ahaan Tagare, Mayur Borse, Neil Laplikar, Ajit Pawar and Arun Patil of Maharashtra won their respective final qualifying rounds to make it to the main draw of the Walchand Cup National Series Under-16 tennis tournament, on Sunday.
In the qualifying round matches played at Deccan Gymkhana, Arun Patil scored the upset of the day, beating State-mate and 15th seed Piyush Salekar 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. It was a remarkable comeback by Patil, after being completely demolished in the opening set by his higher ranked opponent.
Tagare was the other Maharashtra player, who scored a three-set win over a State-mate, beating Siddhant Banthia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. It was a lot easier for Borse, Laplikar and Pawar, all winning in straight sets.
The main draw matches for the boys with country’s No 5 player, Fatehdeep Singh of Punjab, being the top seed , will begin on Monday at 8.30 AM, after Mr SS Gangawati-President Strategic Planning Walchandnagar Industries Ltd inaugurates the tournament . The Maharashtra challenge will be led by 10th seed Jayesh Pungaliya, 12th seed Indra Patwardhan (both from Pune), ninth seed Dhir Gala and 14th seed Nikhil Kannan (both from Mumbai).
The girls main draw is slated to begin on Tuesday, and their seedings will be announced on Monday.
In the boys singles section, Fatedeep Singh of Punjab has been named top seed.
SEEDINGS
Boys, Singles: 1-Fatedeep Singh (Pun); 2-Jude Raymond (AP); 3-Sachin Kumar (Chd); 4- I B Akshay (TN); 5-Vishu Prasad (Dli); 6-Vidit Vaghela (Guj); 7-SD Prajwal Dev (Kar); 8-Allen Kundan (Ker); 9-Dhir Gala (Mah); 10-Jayesh Pungliya (Mah); 11-Pranav Malhotra (Dli); 12-Indra Patwardhan (Mah); 13-Mayank Yadav (Dli); 14-Nikhil Kannan (Mah); 15-Siddharth Anand (Dli); 16-Jaganmaya Panigrahi (Mah)
RESULTS (Qualifying, Final Qualifying)
Boys, Singles: M Sri Sravan (TN) bt Shivan Dalmia (Dli) 7-6 (3), 6-1; Ahaan Tagare (Mah) bt Siddhant Banthia (Mah) 6-4, 2-6, 6-1; Mayur Borse (Mah) bt Pranjeet Oswal (Mah) 6-2, 6-2; Neil Lapalikar (Mah) bt Tanmay Khandit (Guj) 6-3, 6-2; Suryansh Yadav (MP) bt Prathamesh Chavan (Mah) 6-3, 7-6 (10-8); Ajit Pawar (Mah) bt Joshua Chhabra (Mah) 6-1, 6-1; BS Anirudh (Kar) bt Harshit Gupta (Dli) 6-2, 6-3; Arun Patil (Mah) bt Piyush Salekar (Mah) 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.
