Mahitha Dadi Reddy fought her way past qualifier Karman Kaur winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the women’s pre-quarterfinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship on the hard courts of the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old did lead 3-1 in the first set but was tentative owing to a wrist pain. As the match progressed, the tall and strongly built Mahitha found her rhythm to dictate terms.
The real test for Mahitha will be in the next round when she takes on the top-seeded Shweta Rana who eased past Nehel Sahni with a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Mahitha has lost two matches to Shweta on the ITF women’s circuit, but will be keen to put her big game on display.
Sharmada Balu was in trouble as she trailed 1-3 in the decider against Manya Nagpal, but reeled off five games in a row towards the end for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory.
The results (pre-quarterfinals):
Men: Mohit Mayur bt Saurabh Patil 4-0 retired; Mukund Sasikumar bt Kunal anand 6-4, 7-6(5); Nitten Kirrtane bt Vilasier Khate 6-1, 6-0; Gurinder Singh bt Saurav Sukul 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-1 retired; Saurabh Singh bt Ajay Yadav 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Chandril Sood w/o Anvit Bendre; Arjun Kadhe bt Rishab Agarwal 7-6(3), 6-3; P.C. Vignesh bt Shaikh Abdullah 7-5, 6-3.
Women: Shweta Rana bt Nehel Sahni 6-2, 6-2; Mahitha Dadi Reddy bt Karman Kaur 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Eetee Maheta bt R. Abinikka 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Sharmada Balu bt Manya Nagpal 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Sai Samhitha bt Nitha Raj Baburaj 1-0 retired; Snehadevi Reddy bt Amala Amol Warrick 6-0, 6-1; Rushmi Chakravarthi bt Sahan Shetty 6-2, 6-4; Prerna Bhambri bt Devanshi Bhimjiyani 6-1, 6-3. First round: R. Abinikka bt Renu Sharma 6-2, 6-3.
Under-18: Boys: Udayan Bhakar bt Shaikh Abdullah 6-3, 6-4; Nikki Poonacha bt Venkata Paramatmuni 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Shashank Nautiyal 6-1, 6-1; S. D. Prajwal Dev bt Anvit Bendre 6-2, 2-1 retired; Shrey Gupta bt Aryan Goveas 7-6(3), 6-3; Mukund Sasikumar bt Balaji Lakshmanan 6-1, 6-1; Dalwinder Singh bt Parikshit Somani 6-4, 6-0; B.R. Nikshep bt Amaranth Arora 6-0, 6-1.
Girls: Simran Kaur Sethi bt Moulika Ram 6-0, 6-3; Jennifer Luikham bt Vanshika Sawhney 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Mihika Yadav bt Rajbir Kaur 6-1, 6-0; Karman Kaur bt Himani Mor 6-1, 6-3; Teertha Iska bt R. Abinikka 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Shrishti Slaria bt Sathwika Sama 6-2, 6-4; Devanshi Bhimjiyani bt eeshita Pande 6-0, 6-0; Sai Samhitha bt Rimpledeep Kaur 6-2, 7-5.
