Nitin Jaipal Singh overcame a bout of cramps before beating fourth seed Uddayvir Singh 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the boys’ quarterfinals of the Roland Garros junior wild card tennis tournament on the clay courts of the DLTA Complex on Monday.
The champion boy and girl from the tournament will compete in an international play-off event in Paris, with champions from three other countries, which would offer the main draw wild card for the second Grand Slam of the season in Roland Garros.
Busy with his school examinations, the talented Uddayvir was a bit rusty, but the crux of the contest was the gutsy play of Nitin, who felt the cramps in the second set but sought medical attention only in the third.
In fact, Nitin was using the fitness foam roller of second seed Krishan Hooda during the change overs, to treat himself.
Nitin, who trains on his own in Sonepat, will be up against the top seed Dev Javia who sailed past Rudra Bhatt for the loss of one game.
Krishan Hooda failed to capitalise on the openings and was beaten in straight sets by Mohit Bondre.
It will be an interesting challenge for Mohit when he takes on the 6’ 3’’ tall Chirag Duhan who warded off a stiff fight from Ajay Malik in straight sets.
In the girls’ section, top seed Reshma Maruri recovered from a slump in concentration and defensive play in the second set when she trailed 0-3, to outwit Nikita Vishwase 6-2, 6-4.
Second seed Akanksha Nitture was fluent in her win over Vanshika Choudhary, but the third seed Sarah Dev and fourth seed Sandeepti Singh Rao were beaten by Vaishnavi Adkar and Sanjana Sirimalla respectively.
The results (quarterfinals): Boys: Dev Javia bt Rudra Pratap Bhatt 6-1, 6-0; Nitin Jaipal Singh bt Uddayvir Singh 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Chirag Duhan bt Ajay Malik 6-4, 6-3; Mohit Bondre bt Krishan Hooda 6-4, 7-5.
Girls: Reshma Maruri bt Nikita Vishwase 6-2, 6-4; Sanjana Sirimalla bt Sandeep Singh Rao 6-2, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Sarah Dev 6-3, 6-3; Akanksha Nitture bt Vanshika Choudhary 6-3, 6-2 .
