It will be difficult for the men to take the focus away from the women in the Fenesta National tennis championship that begins at the DLTA Complex here on Monday.
In the absence of the top-11 players, playing around the world in pursuit of precious ATP points, the only point of interest would be whether top-seeded Mohit Mayur can win the title and bolster his career.
Second-seed P.C. Vignesh will be the other serious contender for the title while Arjun Kadhe, the finalist in the last edition, will have a lot to play for when he opens his campaign against sixth-seeded Lakshit Sood. Former national champion Nitten Kirrtane has been gaining AITA ranking points to be seeded No. 3.
In the women’s section, a lot of talented players like Bhuvana Kalva, Mahitha Dadi Reddy, Shweta Rana, Sharmada Balu, who have been doing well in the professional circuit, will try to prevent second-seeded Prerna Bhambri from defending her title.
Rushmi Chakravarthi, seeded eighth, could be more than a handful for many, if she strikes form.
Even with the qualifying event in the women’s section not being completed owing to rain interruption, and Asian junior champion Snehadevi Reddy on the verge of making the cut, it should not be a surprise if the eight seeds meet in the quarterfinals.
The best of juniors will struggle to gain some attention through the week as the men and women are likely to hog the limelight, or whatever little that is left of it.
The seedings: Men: 1. Mohit Mayur, 2. P.C. Vignesh, 3. Nitten Kirrtane, 4. Chandril Sood, 5. Abhijeet Tiwari, 6. Lakshid Sood, 7. Saurav Sukul, 8. Kunal Anand.
Women: 1. Shweta Rana, 2. Prerna Bhambri, 3. Eetee Maheta, 4. Bhuvana Kalva, 5. Sharmada Balu, 6. Sai Samhitha, 7. Mahitha Dadi Reddy, 8. Rushmi Chakravarthi.
The results (qualifying event): Men (third and final round): Vilasier Khate bt Brahmjot Singh 6-3, 6-1; Saurabh Singh bt Vidit Vaghela 7-5, 6-2; Gurinder Singh bt Aaditya Tewari 6-1, 6-3; B. Sai saran Reddy bt Ajay Yadav 6-2, 6-0; Anvit Bendre bt Sharvil Nawghare 7-6(5), 6-4; Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Manu Bajpai 6-4, 6-4; Rishab Agarwal bt Rahul Singh 6-3, 6-2; S.D. Prajwal Dev bt Rishab Rama 6-1, 6-0.
Under-18 girls (second and final round): S. Soha bt Nikita Bisshnoi 6-4, 6-4; Nandini Sharma bt Anjali thakur 6-2, 6-0; Jennifer luikham bt M. Jyothi 6-2, 6-2; Renu Sharma bt Aarjya Chakraborty 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; M. Arthi bt Shehnaz Singh 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; Riddhi Sharma bt Neharika Rama 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; G.S. Vasavi bt Arushi Bhasin 5-7, 6-1, 6-4; Baani Singh bt Priyana Kalita 6-1, 6-2.
