Qualifier Lakshit Sood tamed former champion Nitten Kirrtane 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the men’s first round of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex here on Tuesday.
While the 24-year-old Lakshit, who has won three ITF men’s Futures doubles titles this season with his twin brother Chandril, showed considerable patience to fight it out in a battle of wits that lasted three hours, it was commendable that the 41-year-old Kirrtane energetically matched him in hot and humid conditions.
Kirrtane has been playing the national circuit as much as possible and also featured in the Railways team that won the World Railways tennis title. He was at his crafty best as he turned the first set around from 3-5 down reeling off four games.
In the second set, Kirrtane broke for 6-5, but could not serve the match out. In the tie-break, Lakshit took a 5-3 lead before Kirrtane pulled level. However, Lakshit had the final say in that set. In the decider, Kirrtane failed to win a game after leading 2-1, but ensured that every game was a fresh battle for his younger opponent.
Lakshit will challenge seventh seed Shaikh Abdullah in the pre-quarterfinals. Chandril, however, was beaten by qualifier Nitin Kumar Sinha who was energetic and charged up in the decider. Nitin Kumar will face former champion V.M. Ranjeet.
Defending champion and seed seed Vishnu Vardhan was given a good workout by the young Manish Sureshkumar, who grew in confidence as the match progressed. Vishnu used the contest to sharpen his net game.
There were no surprises in the women’s event, as defending champion Prerna Bhambri pulled her way past qualifier Mihika Yadav after a keenly contested first set. Another gutsy young qualifier Sathwika Sama tried to make a fight of it against fifth seed Sowjanya Bavisetti. The talented left-hander, Sowjanya, punched her strokes at the right moments to break her opponent’s resistance.
Top seed Snehadevi Reddy blanked Sneha Padamata while Eetee Maheta was fluent in her victory over Abinikka Renganathan.
In the junior boys’ section, Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy, who trains with coach Vishaal Uppal, dismissed third seed Ishaque Eqbal for the loss of four games. He will next face Shramay Dhawan who sweated it out in three tough sets against S.M. Aadithya. Aditya Vasisht meanwhile played the big points better in outlasting sixth seed Dhruv Sunish.
In the girls’ section, Prinkle Singh asserted her staying power in beating Shivani Ingle in an engrossing encounter.
The results: Men: First round: Shaikh Abdullah bt Udaya Kumar Reddy 7-6(5), 6-2; Lakshit Sood bt Nitten Kirrtane 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-2; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Chandril Sood 6-1, 1-6, 6-3; V.M. Ranjeet bt Prajwal Dev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1; Anvit Bendre bt Shahbaaz Khan 6-3, 6-2; Alex Solanki bt Abhinansu Borthakur 6-1, 7-5; Vlasier Khate bt Sahil Gaware 6-1, 6-3; Vishnu Vardhan bt Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-4.
Women: First round: Snehadevi Reddy bt Sneha Padamata 6-0, 6-0; Samriti Punyani bt Neeru Rapria 6-3, 6-1; Vanya Dangwal bt Moulika Ram 6-3, 6-4; Eetee Maheta bt Abinikka Renganathan 6-2, 6-2; Prerna Bhambri bt Mihika Yadav 6-4, 6-1; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Preethi Ujjini 6-3, 6-3; Amrita Mukherjee bt Teertha Iska 6-4, 6-1; Sowjanya Bavisetti bt Sathwika Sama 6-3, 6-3; Isha Budwal bt Simran Kejriwal 6-3, 6-2; Aarja Chakraborty bt Akshara Iska 5-7, 6-2, 2-0 (retired).
Under-18: Second round: Boys: Aryan Goveas bt Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-1, 6-2; Adil Kalyanpur bt Raswant Ravi 6-3, 7-6(1); Siddhant Banthia bt Shrey Gupta 6-4, 6-2; Manish Sureshkumar bt Mingki Talom 6-2, 6-1; Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-0, 6-4; Shramay Dhawan bt S.M. Aadhitya 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-4; Anurag Nenwani bt Sanil Jagtiani 6-1, 6-0; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Ashutosh Tiwari 7-6(0), 6-4; Alex Solanki bt Sansidh Kommaraju 6-2, 6-1; Param Pun bt Mayukh Rawat 6-2, 6-0; Yugal Bansal bt Danish Ahmad 6-4, 6-2; Parikshit Somani bt Siddarth Ponnala 6-3, 6-4; Aditya Vasisht bt Dhruv Sunish 7-6(4), 6-2; Abhinav Sanjeev bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 7-5, 7-6(3); Udayan Bhakar bt Paras Dahiya 6-3, 6-4; B.R. Nikshep bt Armaan Bhatia 6-1, 6-1.
Girls: Zeel Desai bt Nairuti Vyas 6-0, 6-0; Shivani Amineni bt Sai Dedeepya 6-3, 6-1; HarshaSai Challa bt Aarja Chakraborty 6-3, 6-3; Jennifer Luikham bt Shefali Arora 6-2, 6-1; Mahak Jain bt Sai Avanthika 6-0, 6-2; Nida Kamal bt Aesha Patel 7-5, 6-3; Akanksha Bhan bt Yubrani Banerjee 6-3, 6-3; Vanshika Sawhney bt S. Soha 6-0, 6-1; Lalita Devarakonda bt Akshara Iska 7-6(2), retired; Humeira Shaikh bt Shivani Manjanna 6-2, 1-6, 6-2; Himani Mor bt Rashmika Rajan 7-5, 6-2; Prinkle Singh bt Shivani Ingle 7-5, 5-7, 6-0; Sabhyata Nihalani bt Priyana Kalita 6-3, 6-2; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Lasya Patnaik 7-6(4), 6-0; Abinikka Renganathan bt Shreya Gulia 6-2, 7-6(1), Sathwika Sama bt Bhakti Parwani 6-2, 6-2.
