Karnataka players dominate U-16 national tennis tourney

Three Karnataka players stormed into the semi-finals of the KTPPA-AITA National Series Under-16 tennis tournament here Thursday.

In the boys singles, top seed C. Vasisht and eighth seed Vignesh Subramanya scored emphatic wins, while S. Soha made the semi-finals in the girls section.

Vignesh notched up an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Shramay Dhawan of Delhi as he blasted winners on his forehand and moved quickly on court to overpower his rival.

Vasisht ran into a determined Yugal Bansal of Haryana before he won at 7-5, 6-2 in a well contested tie.

In other quarterfinal ties, second seed Mayuk Rawat of Uttarakhand defeated Sumitpal Singh of Jammu and Kashmir 6-2, 6-2 while, fifth seed PC Anirudh of Andhra Pradesh beat third seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal 6-2, 6-2.

In the girls section, the National School Games champion Soha, who was a semi-finalist in the last National Series held at the same venue in December, did it again beating her state-mate Nikita Pinto at 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Joining Soha in the semis was Tamil Nadu's Rishika Ravi who defeated Karnataka's Shivani Manjanna 6-4, 6-1. Top seed R Abinikka cruised past her Tamil Nadu teammate Lathika Premkumar 6-0, 6-1 while Sarah Dev of Punjab scored an easy 6-2, 6-0 win over Humera Shaikh of AP.

The results (quarter-finals):

Boys singles: C Vasisht (Kar) bt Yugal Bansal (Har) 7-5, 6-2 ; Vignesh Subramanya (Kar) bt bt Shramya Dhawan (Del) 6-2, 6-1; Mayuk Rawat (Utk) bt Sumitpal Singh (JK) 6-2, 6-2; PC Anirudh (AP) bt Ishaque Eqbal (WB) 6-2, 6-2.

Girls singles: R Abinikka (TN) bt Lathika Premkumar (TN) 6-0, 6-1; S Soha (Kar) bt Nikita Pinto (Kar) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 ; Rishika Ravi (TN) bt Shivani Manjanna (Kar ) 6-4, 6-1 ; Sarah Dev (Pnb) bt Humera Shaikh (AP) 6-2, 6-0.

Boys doubles (semi-finals): Akash N / Anshuman G bt Dhruv Sunish / Ishaque Eqbal 4-6, 6-4, 10-6; Yugal Bansal / Utkarsh Bharadwaj bt C Vasisht / S Vignesh 6-4, 7-5.