Deepak ousts Nikhil for tennis semis berth

Unseeded Deepak A. stormed into the semi-finals of the boys singles, knocking out second seed Nikhil Niranjan 6-1, 6-3 in an all Karnataka quarter-final of the KTPPA-AITA Championship Series junior tennis tournament here on Wednesday.

Fourth seed Aditya Roy (Bengal) also made his exit, losing to unseeded Subash Paramasivam of Tamil Nadu 1-6, 3-6 in another quarter-final tie.

Top seed Rajesh Kannan of Tamil Nadu and No.3 Sandesh Kantimahanti of Karnataka advanced to semi-finals posting facile victories.

Unseeded Chandrika Joshi of Karnataka defeated teammate Naisha Srivatsava 6-2, 6-4 and entered the semi-finals where she was joined by top three seeds, S.B. Apoova and K.S.Shimran, both of Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu's Shruthi P.

Quarter-final results:

Boys singles: Rajesh Kannan (TN) bt Aakarsh Gaonkar (Kar) 6-0, 6-0; Sandesh Kantimahanti (Kar) bt Akanash Bhat (Kar) 7-6(5), 6-2; Subash Paramasivam (TN) bt Aditya Roy (WB) 6-1, 6-3; Deepak A. (Kar) bt Nikhil Niranjan (Kar) 6-1, 6-3.

Girls singles: S.B. Apoorva (Kar) bt Sanskiriti Gupta (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; Chandrika Joshi (Kar) bt Naisha Srivastava (Kar) 6-2, 6-4; Shruthi P. (TN) bt Viveha Sivaraman (TN) 6-2, 6-3; K.S. Simran (Kar) bt Vinesha Shree (Kar) 6-1, 6-3.

Boys doubles (semi-finals, mini sets): Vishal Reddy/Nikhil Niranjan bt Hari Prasad/Rajesh Kannan 5-3, 4-2; Sandesh Kanthimahanti/Arjun Sriram bt Arnav P./ Vishwas K. 4-0, 4-1.