Partha Saradhi wins a battle of endurance

Unseeded A.K. Partha Saradhi of India outlasted a marathon three-setter to beat Chinese Taipei's Yu Hao Chen in the boys' singles first round of the Gujarat NRE-ITF junior tennis, here on Tuesday. Partha Saradhi joined fifth seed Sahil Deshmukh and Sumit Nagal to keep the Indian challenge alive in the boys' pre-quarterfinals of the Grade III event being played at the DKS Complex.

The rest of the Indians — including second seed Shaikh Abdullah and seventh seed Vilasier Khate — exited losing their first round matches against foreign opponents. The scene was similar in girls' singles with only three Indians, led by eighth seed Spurthi Shivalingaiah, making it to the next round. The other two are Shreya Pasricha and Dhruthi Venugopal.

Partha Saradhi passed a test of endurance when he got the better of Chen — who made it through as a qualifier — after a prolonged battle that lasted three hours and 25 minutes. The Indian erased a set's deficit before drawing level by winning the second set. The decider lasted almost two hours as the two held on to their serves before forcing the tie-breaker.

The Indian showed better nerves to win the abnormally stretched tie-breaker 19-17 before wrapping up the match.

The results (Indians unless specified):

First round: Singles:

Boys: Sumit Nagal bt Zvonimir Babic (Cro) 1-6, 6-4, 6-4; Wei De Lin (Tpe) bt Jeroen Royakkers (Bel) 7-5, 6-7(8), 6-2; A.K. Partha Saradhi bt Yu Hao Chen (Tpe) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(19); Ivan Divkovic (Cro) bt Rithvik Anand 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt Shashank Nautiyal 6-0, 6-2; A. Ivorra Alvcaraz (Esp) bt Tejas Kapoor 6-1, 6-1.

Girls: A. Prokopenko (Ukr) bt Simran Kaur Sethi 6-3, 6-3; Spurthi Shivalingaiah bt Arina Folts (Uzb) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Sanae Otha (Jpn) bt S. Snehadevi Reddy 3-6, 6-2, 6-1; Carol Augustine Benito (Esp) bt S. Chamarthi 6-1, 6-4; K Sharifova (Rus) bt Ah Song (Kor) 7-5, 6-0.