Local boy Sumit Nagal made a smooth progress to the ITF Asian junior tennis championships second round with a 6-2, 6-3 dismantling of Japanese Shoma Kato here on Tuesday.
This was Nagal’s first match since he lost in the first round of the Australian Open boys’ event in January. The 16-year-old had taken a break to work on his fitness. Although Kato didn’t test him physically, Nagal did have an opportunity to show that time away from tennis hadn’t hurt his rhythm.
The seventh seed, who had reached a career-high ranking of 43 earlier this year, dominated his Japanese opponent through pace and sharply-angled ground-strokes. A hurried Kato was pushed into corners of the court where he was uncomfortable and errors flowed consequently.
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In the girls’ section, wildcard Devanshi Bhimjiyani ousted qualifier Momoka Yoshida 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 20 minutes. Bhimjiyani could have won in straight sets but failed to convert opportunities to break Yoshida in the second set.
The results: First round: Boys: Lee Duck Hee (KOR) bt Joshua Liu (SIN) 6-0, 6-1; Weiqiang Zheng (CHN) bt Anthony Jackie Tang (HKG) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Sumit Nagal bt Shoma Kato (JPN) 6-2, 6-3; Siu Chuen Lam (HKG) bt Shrey Gupta 6-1, 6-3; Sharmal Dissanayake (SRI) bt G. Venkata Paramatmuni 6-3, 6-1.
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Doubles: Boys: Lee Duck Hee (KOR) & Weiqiang Zheng (CHN) bt Sharmal Dissanayake (SRI) & Teeradon Tortrakul (THA) 7-5, 6-3; Aditya Gokhale & Vidit Vaghela bt Kennosuke Nouchi (JPN) & Anthony Jackie Tang (HKG) 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-7; Shoma Kato & Ken Onishi (JPN) bt Paramveer Bajwa & Deepak Vishvakarma 6-2, 6-3; Siu Chuen Lam & Hong Kit Jack Wong (HKG) bt B.R. Nikshep & Alex Solanki 6-1, 6-3; Isa Mammetgulyyev (TKM) & Yong Jie Isaac Ong (SIN) bt Shrey Gupta & Taha Kapadia 6-2, 6-1; Yun Seong Chung (KOR) & Sumit Nagal bt Chak Pong Marco Lam & Hei Yin Andrew Li (HKG) 6-3, 3-6, 10-4; S.D. Prajwal Dev & G. Venkata Paramatmuni bt Vorachon Rakpuangchon (THA) & Joshua Liu (SIN) 4-6, 6-2, 10-8; Makoto Ochi & Sora Fukuda (JPN) bt Aryan Goveas & Sanil Jagtiani 6-2, 6-1.
Girls: Kamonwan Buayam (THA) & Yijia Shao (CHN) bt Himani Mor & Vanshika Sawhney 6-1, 6-1; Karman Kaur Thandi & Mihika Yadav bt Yinglak Jittakoat (THA) & Rikeetha Pereira 7-6(3), 6-1; Tamachan Momkoonthod & Plobrung Plipuech (THA) bt Sneha Padamata & Srishti Slaria 6-2, 6-3; Jennifer Luikham & Nidhi Surapaneni bt N.G. Kwan Yau (HKG) & Sanjana Sudhir 4-6, 6-4, 12-10; Snehal Mane & Nandini Sharma bt Kimika Sakata & Momoka Yoshida (JPN) 6-2, 0-6, 10-8; Vasanti Shinde & Dhruthi Venugopal bt Yukina Saigo (JPN) & Claire Yoonkee Choi Spackman (HKG) 6-1, 6-1; Devanshi Bhimjiyani & Zeel Desai bt Jaipet Anontaweesil & Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (THA) 6-1, 6-4; Pranjala Yadlapalli & Ojasvinee Singh bt Rheeya Doshi (SIN) & Simran Kaur Sethi 6-2, 6-0.