Pune: On a Wednesday where upsets was the order of the day, Tamil Nadu’s Nikita Anand knocked out two seeds to make it to the quarter-finals of the girls singles at the Walchand Cup Under-16 National Series tennis tournament at Deccan Gymkhana.
With girls playing two rounds on Thursday after starting a day late than the boys, Nikita got past sixth seed Renu Sharma of Haryana in a three-setter.
Nikita prevailed 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 to make to pre-quarters. And a few hours later, the Tamil Nadu girl was ready for another long battle, this time against 10th seed Prabhuti Singhania of Maharashtra. The match went the distance, and Nikita had the stamina to win the third set tie-breaker 7-3 to win the battle that lasted well over two hours.
There were more upsets in store on the girls side, with 11th seed Kavita Mishra of Maharashtra accounting for seventh seed Shambhavi Dixith of Andhra, and 15the seed Akshara Iska of Andhra knocking out fourth seed Devanshi Bhimjiyani of Maharashtra.
Three girls from Maharashtra, top seed Snehadevi Reddy, Mishra and fifth seed Vasanti Shinde have made it to the last eight.
On the boys’ side, city lad and 10th seed Jayesh Pungaliya got the better of seventh seed S.D Prajwal Dev of Karnataka 6-4, 6-3.
RESULTS (Day 4, Main Draw)
Boys, Singles, PQF: Boys, Singles, Pre-QF: 1-Fatedeep Singh (Pun) bt M Ankith Reddy (AP) 6-1, 6-2; 6-Vidit Vaghela (Guj) b 9-Dhir Gala (Mah) 6-1, 6-1; 4-I.B Akshay (TN) b S Gokul (TN) 6-4, 7-5; 10-Jayesh Pungliya (Mah) b 7-S D Prajwal Dev (Ktk) 6-4, 6-3; 5-Vishnu Prasad (Dli) bt 12-Indra Patwardhan (Mah) 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-0; 3-Sachin Kumar (Chd) bt Ganesh Srinivasan (TN) 6-2, 6-1; 8-Allen Kundan (Ker) b 11-Pranav Malhotra (Dli) 6-1, 6-0; 2-Jude Raymond (AP) b 13-Mayank Yadav (Dli) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
Girls, Singles, PQF: 1-Snehadevi Reddy (Mah) bt 13-Simran Wadhwa (Dli) 6-0, 6-1; 11-Kavita Mishra (Mah) bt 7-Shambhavi Dixith (AP) 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-1; 15-Akshara Iska (AP) bt 4-Devanshi Bhimjiyani (Mah) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; Nikita Anand (TN) bt 10-Prabhuti Singhania (Mah) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3); 5-Vasanti Shinde (Mah) bt 12-Yuden Shyodhi (Mah) 6-2, 6-2; 3-Teertha Iska (AP) bt 14-Pragati Natraj (TN) 7-5, 6-4; 8-Rashmitha Pasula Reddy (AP) bt 9-Bhavani Balakumar (TN) 6-4, 6-3; R. Abinikka (TN) bt Shivani Desai (Mah) 6-0, 6-2.
Rd-2: 1-Snehadevi Reddy (Mah) bt Thanushree Pallanivale (TN) 6-3, 6-2; 13-Simran Wadhwa (Dli) bt Saranya Nagpal (AP) 7-5, 6-3; 11-Kavita Mishra (Mah) bt Apurva Barate (Mah) 6-3, 6-3;
7-Shambhavi Dixith (AP) bt Rizvi Sharmeen (Mh) 6-1, 6-0; 4-Devanshi Bhimjiyani (Mah) bt Suprabha Pujari (Mah) 6-1, 6-0; 15-Akshara Iska (AP) bt Radhika Joshi (Mah) 6-0, 6-1; 10-Prabhuti Singhania (Mah) bt Shivani Ingle (Mah) 6-0, 6-0; Nikita Anand (TN) bt 6-Renu Sharma (Har) 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; 5-Vasanti Shinde (Mah) bt Sanskruti Jaangle (Mah) 4-0 Conceeded; 12-Yuden Shyodhi (Mah) bt Aastha Dargude (Mah) 7-5, 6-1; 14-Pragati Natraj (TN) bt Bindiya Khanwani (Ap) 6-1, 6-4; 3-Teertha Iska (AP) bt Sumeera Kamil (Dli) 7-6 (1), 6-3; 8-Rashmitha Pasula Reddy (AP) bt Shikha Singh (Ktk) 6-1, 6-0; 9-Bhavani Balakumar (TN) bt Sakshi Yadav (Ap) 6-3, 6-0; Shivani Desai (Mah) bt 16-Sharlee Deshmukh (Mah) 6-4, 6-1; R. Abinikka (TN) bt 2-Dhruti Venugopal (Ktk) 6-3, 6-3.
Boys Doubles; QF: 1-Jude Raymond (AP)/Fatehdeep Singh (PB) b Nikhil Kannan/ Indra Patwardhan (Mah) 6-0, 6-1; Vishnu Prasad (Dli)/Jayesh Pungaliya (Mah) b Bhupal Raju Nadimpalli/M Ankit Reddy (AP) 6-3, 6-4; 4-S D Prajwal Dev (Ktk)/Dhir Gala (Mah) b Ved Bhandare/Mihir Damle (Mah) 6-2, 6-4; 2-Sachin Kumar (Chd)/Vidit Vaghela (Guj) b Kunal Vazirani/Nandish Vora (Mah) 6-1, 6-1.
Girls Doubles, QF: 1-Snehadevi Reddy (Mah)/ Dhruti Venugopal (Ktk) b Sumeera Kamil (Dli)/ Renu Sharma (Har) 6-3, 6-1; Preeti Bhandurge/ Sharlee Deshmukh (Mah) b Shreya Pai/ Suprabha Pujari (Mah) 6-4, 1-6, 10-8; Rashmita Pasula Reddy (AP)/ Prabhuti Singhania (Mah) b Aastha Dargude/ Trisha Punamiya (Mah) 6-3, 6-2; R Abhinika (TN)/ Saranya Nagpal (AP) b Bhargavi Mangudkar/ Prachi Naidu (Mah) 6-1, 6-4; Nikita Anand/ Thanushree Pallanvale (TN) b Bindiya Khanwani (AP)/ Simran Wadhwa (Dli) 6-3, 6-2; Akshara Iska/ Teertha Iska (AP) b Bhavani Balakumar/ Pragati Natraj (TN) 6-1, 6-3; Kavita Mishra/ Sharmeen Rizvi (Mah) b Apurva Barate/ Kanishka Chawla (Mah) 0-6, 7-5, 10-6; 2-Devanshi Bhimjayani/ Vasanti Shinde (Mah) b Shrishti Das (Mah)/ Shikha N Singh (Ktk) 6-3, 6-1.