Playing her first match in almost three months, Simran Kaur Sethi made light work of seventh seed Yijia Shao from China as she won 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the ITF Asian junior tennis championships at the DLTA Complex on Monday.
Due to board exams, the 17-year-old had taken a break from tennis but she played like she had never been away. Simran credited her new coach Gaurav Sharma for ensuring she was well prepared for this tournament. “He has made me hit a lot of balls and work on my variations,” said Simran, currently ranked 346.
The teenager had last featured in the Australian Open girls’ singles tournament.
Simran’s homework on her variations paid full dividends against Yijia as she troubled the opponent by bringing her to the net regularly. The Delhi girl’s wide serve from deuce court was tough to return too while her backhand remained steady throughout the match.
In the day’s other matches, Paramveer Bajwa came close to upsetting second seed Ken Onishi of Japan but eventually lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in two hours and 52 minutes. Bajwa was hampered by a knee injury in the decider after he had broken to go 2-0 up. Thereafter, his serve was broken twice to love by Onishi as the Japanese played with greater control.
B.R. Nikshep lost to Hong Kong’s Hei Yin Andrew Li after winning the first set.
The results (first round): Boys: Hei Yin Andrew Li (Hkg) bt B.R. Nikshep 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Vorachon Rakpuangchon (Tha) bt Aryan Goveas 6-1, 5-7, 6-2; Sora Fukuda (Jpn) bt Anurag Nenwani 6-0, 6-2; Isa Mammetgulyyev (Tkm) bt S.D. Prajwal Dev 6-4, 6-2; Hong Kit Jack Wong (Hkg) bt Vidit Vaghela 6-3, 6-4; Makoto Ochi (Jpn) bt Deepak Vishvakarma 7-6(3), 6-2; Yun Seong Chung (Kor) bt Yong Jie Isaac Ong (Sin) 6-2, 6-3; Teeradon Tortrakul (Tha) bt Taha Kapadia 6-4, 6-3; Kennosuke Nouchi (Jpn) bt Sanil Jagtiani 6-2, 6-2; Alex Solanki bt Chak Pong Marco Lam (Hkg); Ken Onishi (Jpn) bt Paramveer Bajwa 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Girls: Kamonwan Buayam (Tha) bt Isha Budwal 6-0, 6-1; Sanjana Sudhir bt Kimika Sakata (Jpn) 6-3, 0-6, 6-3; Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (Tha) bt Snehal Mane 7-6 (3), 6-2; Claire Yoonkee Choi Spackman (Hkg) bt Nidhi Surapaneni 6-2, 6-1; Ojasvinee Singh bt Rikeetha Pereira 6-1, 6-0; Rheeya Doshi (Sin) bt Jennifer Luikham 5-7, 6-2, 6-4; Vasanti Shinde bt Yinglak Jittakoat (Tha) 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4); Yukina Saigo (Jpn) bt Nandini Sharma 6-1, 6-1; Simran Kaur Sethi bt Yijia Shao (Chn) 6-3, 6-4; Mihika Yadav bt Vanshika Sawhney 6-2, 6-4; Plobrung Plipuech (Tha) bt Zeel Desai 6-4, 6-3; Tamachan Momkoonthod (Tha) bt Dhruthi Venugopal 6-2, 6-4; Sneha Padamata bt Miyo Kobayashi (Jpn) 6-0, 7-6 (3); Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Srishti Slaria 6-2, 6-3.