Top seeds Arjun Kadhe of Maharashtra and Mahak Jain of Madhya Pradesh, both comfortably sailed into the quarter-finals of the men’s and women’s singles events respectively, in the AITA Ranking Rs 22 lakh prize-money JVPG Anirudh Desai All-India Open Tennis Tournament 2018, at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana’s floodlit tennis courts on Wednesday.
The Pune-based Kadhe prevailed over Dhakshineswar Suresh of Tamil Nadu 6-4, 7-5, while Jain powered her way to 6-0, 6-1 victory against her compatriot Sara Yadav in second round encounters.
Mihika Yadav
In one of the biggest upsets, third seed Rishika Sunkara of Delhi crashed to a humiliating first round defeat at the hands of unseeded Mihika Yadav of Maharashtra. The 19-year-old girl from Maharashtra had things much her own way against the 24-year-old Rishika and coasted to 6-1, 6-0 victory.
Seasoned pro, 43-year-old Nitten Kirrtane of Maharashtra made a second exit going down in the straight sets to 21-year-old state mate Jayesh Punglia. Kirrtane, who had upset fifth seed hardeep Singh Sandhu in the first round, was unable to sustain the winning momentum and suffered a 3-6, 1-6 loss to his younger opponent.
Fourth seed Kunal Anand of Delhi and seventh seed Siddharth Vishwakarma took different routes to the quarter-finals. Anand outplayed Shubham Malhotra 6-2, 6-3, while Vishwakarma had quite a fight on hand before he managed to overcome Abhinav Sanjeev 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.
Meanwhile, third seed Manish Sureshkumar (TN) and Peranamallur Vignesh (AP), both won their men’s first round encounters. Sureshkumar easily deposed off unseeded Paras Dhaiya posting a 6-2, 6-2 win, while Vignesh lost the first set, but later put up a determined fight to sideline Anvit Bendre 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Results – Women’s singles (2nd round): 1-Mahak Jain bt Sara Yadav 6-0, 6-1; 2-Sai Samhitha vs Arushi Vikram Bhasin 6-0, 6-1.
1st round: Mihika Yadav bt 3-Rishika Sunkara 6-1, 6-0; Dakshata Patel bt 7-Shweta C. Rana 6-1, 6-2;
Men’s singles (2nd round): 1-Arjun Kadhe bt Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-4, 7-5; 7-Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Abhinav Sanjeev 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; 4-Kunal Anand bt Shubham Malhotra 6-2, 6-3; Jayesh Pungliya bt Nitten Kirrtane 6-3, 6-1;
1st round: Abhinav Sanjeev bt Vilasier Khate 6-4, 6-1; Peranamallur Vignesh bt Anvit Bendre 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; 3-Manish Sureshkumar bt Paras Dahiya 6-2, 6-2;