Prerna Bhambri overcame two match points and reduced a fighting Prarthana Thombare to tears with a 6-7(8), 7-6(8), 6-0 victory in the women’s first round of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old Prerna, who recently won her second ITF women’s singles title, was gutsy in a nerve-wracking contest that lasted three hours and 20 minutes. Prerna stayed focused, served well, stroked with intensity, moved briskly and stayed positive throughout, despite some umpiring calls going against her.
String of mistakes
Prerna missed a set-point in the tie-break of the first set and lost the set on a string of uncharacteristic mistakes.
In the second set, she faced two match-points in the 12th game on her serve, but a cautious Prarthana made a few errors. In the eventual tie-break, Prerna hit a clear winner and the umpire called it out to give the first point to Prarthana.
However, it was Prerna who served an ace to set up the first of four set points and forced the third set when Prarthana put a backhand wide.
In the decider, Prarthana lacked the physical and mental energy. She hardly won about 10 points even as Prerna served well to cruise home.
In the men’s section, R. Ramkumar dismissed the challenge of former National champion Nitten Kirrtane with ease, losing just five games.
“Nitten is an incredible competitor,” admired Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal, about his erstwhile ward. Incidentally, Nandan was taking care of the tall and talented Ramkumar among others.
The results: Men (first round): Ajai Selvaraj bt Jatin Dahiya 7-5, 7-5; Vinod Sridhar bt B. Sai Sarandeep 6-2, 6-1; Ashwin Vijayaraghavan bt Rohan Gide 7-6(5), 6-3; Siddharth Rawat bt Kunal Anand 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Kaza Vinayak Sharma bt Yogesh Phogat 6-2, 6-2; Vaidik Munshaw bt Suraj Prabhod 6-4, 6-1; Saurav Sukul bt Rithvik Anand 6-4, 6-1; R. Ramkumar bt Nitten Kirrtane 6-3, 6-2; Saurabh Singh bt Suraj Beniwal 6-2, 7-6(5); P.C. Vignesh bt Yannick Nelord 6-3, 6-4; Ronak Manuja bt Brahmjot Singh 6-3, 6-2; Arjun Kadhe bt Elwin Antony 6-1, 6-4.
Women (first round): Rishika Sunkara 6-3, 6-0; Devanshi Bhimjiyani bt Nithyaraj Baburaj 2-6, 6-3, 6-1; Vineeta Singh bt Arushi Bhasin 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Sai Samhitha bt Victoria Chahal 6-3, 6-0; Simran Sethi bt Treta Bhatacharya 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Bhuvana Kalva bt Smriti Joon 6-3, 6-2; Prerna Bhambri bt Prarthana Thombare 6-7(8), 7-6(8), 6-0.
Under-18 boys (second round): Rishab Aggarwall bt Deepak Vishwakarma 6-7(11), 6-3, 6-2; Gokul Suresh bt Aditya Gokhale 7-5, 6-3; Yash Deshpande bt Akhil Reddy 6-1, 6-1; Sai Nikhil bt Vishu Prasad 6-1, 6-0; Suraj Prabodh bt Fatehdeep Singh 6-3, 6-1; Neeraj Elangovan bt Anvit Bendre 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; Rakshit Rishi bt Rahul Singh 6-4, 6-4; A.K. Partha Saradhi bt Sai Saran Reddy 6-1, 6-4; Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Rithvik Anand 2-6, 6-0, 6-4; Sachin Kumar bt Dhruv Pal 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Keneizotuo Whourie bt Nischay Rawal 6-1, 6-3; Karan Salwan bt Minki Talom 5-7, 6-1, 6-3; Vilasier Khate bt Lavish Nehra 6-3, 6-3; Ranjeet Singh bt Indra Patwardhan 6-1, 6-1; B.R. Nikshep bt Abhinanshu Borthakur 6-0, 6-3; Shaikh Abdullah bt Vasudev Vijayaraman 6-3, 6-1. Under-18 girls (second round): Simran Kaur Sethi bt Thanushree Palani 6-2, 6-1; Isha Budwal bt Shambhavi Dixit 7-6(5), 6-3; Mahitha Dadireddy bt Moulika Ram 6-2, 6-1; Tarrannum Handa bt Sumeeta Kamil 6-2, 6-2; Sai Samhitha bt Arushi Bhasin 6-1, 6-1; Akshara Iska bt Bindiya Khanwani 6-0, 6-3; Devanshi Bhimjiyani bt Ramya Natarajan 6-1, 3-6, 6-0; Rimpledeep Kaur bt Snehal Mane 6-2, 6-2; Shreya Pasricha bt Kanishka Chawla 6-1, 6-2; Amrita Mukherjee bt Eeshita Pande 6-0, 6-1; Zeel Desai bt Vanshika Sawhney 6-3, 6-2; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt D. Nayanika Reddy 6-4, 7-6(5); Himani Mor bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-3, 7-6(5); Sruta Kirti Gunuganti bt Karman Kaur 2-6, -2, 6-4; Nehal Sahni bt Pasula Rashmitha Reddy 6-2, 6-0; Rajbir Kaur bt Teertha Iska 7-5, 7-5.
