Chennai: Arjun Kadhe’s quest to become the men’s national champion for the first time gained ascendancy as he prevailed over Yugal Bansal from Delhi 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the Fenesta Open National Tennis championship in New Delhi.
On Wednesday, Arjun was in fluent form as he played with authority and stroked the ball sweetly on the hard courts at the DLTA facility.
In the absence of higher ranked players from India, this is reckoned to be Arjun’s good chance to win the title.
“I think my opponent played a good match. I didn’t start in the best ways, in the first two games. As the match went on, I think I felt much better. I also thought I was serving really well throughout the match and the best part is I was feeding the ball on the the racket when I needed to. He is a good player he moved really well. We had good exchanges and we had fun on the court,” he said.
Seasoned player VM Ranjeet dug into his reserves and won 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 against another experienced opponent in Mohit Jayaprakash.
“I felt good on court in general. I had a tough match. My opponent played better than me in the second set. But I stayed calm and turned it around in the third. Very happy to be in the next round. Looking forward to enjoying it,” said Ranjeet.
In the women’s category Delhi girl Prerna Bhambri beat state mate Shweta Rana 6-1, 6-4 in the second round. Zeel Desai had a good win against Anusha Kondaveeti and prevailed in straight sets.
MEN’S SINGLES 2ND ROUND
Arjun Kadhe bt Yugal Bansal 6-2, 6-3; Siddhanth Banthia bt BR Nikshep 6-1, 6-1; Manish Sureshkumar bt Paras Dahiya 6-4, 6-1; Sidharth Rawat bt Anirudh CP 5-0, Retd; Nitin K Sinha bt Anshu Bhuyan 6-2, 6-1; Ishaque Iqbal bt Jayesh J Punglia 5-2. Retd.; V Ranjeet bt Mohit M Jayaprakash 6-2, 2-6; 6-2; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt SD Prajwal Dev 4-6,6-1,6-4
WOMEN’S SINGLES 2ND ROUND
Zeel Desai bt Anusha Kondaveeti 6-0, 6-1;Mahak Jain bt Avika Sagwal 6-0, 6-0; Prerna Bhambari bt Shweta Rana 6-1,6-2; Humera Shaik bt Muskan Gupta 1-0, Retd;Ramya Natrajan bt S Soha 7-6,1-6; SathwikaSama bt Rishila Sunkara 6-1, 6-1; Natasha Pahla bt C Sai Samhitha 6-1,6-4; Shravya Shivani C bt Nithyaraj Baburaj 6-2, 6-3;
BOYS 18 SINGLES-2ND ROUND
Siddhant Banthia bt Nishant Dabas 6-2, 6-1; Calvin Golmei bt Aman Dahiya 6-26-1; Ajay Malik bt S Reddy Ghanta 7-5,4-6,7-4(4);Kabir Hans bt G Suresh Jadhav 6-3,6-3; DhruvTangri bt Rhythm Malhotra 7-6(5), 6-3; Krish Patel bt Shashank M Theertha 7-5, 6-1; Madhwin Kamath bt Dev V Javia 6-4; 7-5; Drona Walia bt Lakshya Gupta 6-3,6-2;
GIRLS 18 SINGLES 2ND ROUND
Sara Yadav bt Prathiba P Narayan 6-3; 6-2; Sharanya Gaware bt L S R Vutukuru 6-1, 6-2; Farhat A Gamar bt Gargi Pawar 6-2, 6-1; Humera Shaik bt Muskan Gupta 0 3-6,6-4,6-3;Kashish Bhatia bt Rutuja M Chaphalkar 6-3,6-1;Sarah Dev bt Trisha Vinod 6-3,6-3; Rashmika S Bamadipaty bt Vipasa Mehra 6-2,6-3; Ishita Singh bt Vanshika Choudhary 6-4,6-3; Humera Shaik bt Muskan Gupta 1-0 ,Retd;