Prarthana enters semis in tennis meet

Prarthana Prabhakar prevailed over the third seed Sonashe Bhatnagar 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in an all-Karnataka clash and entered the girls singles semi-finals of the SAT Open-AITA National Series Under-16 junior tennis championship here on Thursday.

In the engrossing three-hour contest, ninth seed Prarthana hung on grimly against a determined Sonashe with the tie going to the wire with a tie-breaker finish.

Prarthana was joined in the last four round by her teammates top seed Shivani Manjanna and eighth seed Apoorva.

S.B. Apoorva beat Lasya Patnaik 7-5, 3-6,7-6 (3 ), while Shivani made a short work of Nikita Reddy 6-1, 6-2.

In the boys singles, top seed Adil Kalyanpur of Karnataka stayed on course as he stormed into semi-finals beating eighth seed Himanshu Mor 6-1, 6-2.

The results (quarter-finals):

Boys singles: Adil Kalyanpur bt Himasnhu Mor 6-1, 6-2 ; S.M. Aadithya (TN) bt Siddarth Thakan 6-2, 6-3; Srivatsa Ratakonda (AP) bt Varun Venkat 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Nikit M. Reddy bt Sai Ganta 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Girls singles: Shivani Manjanna bt Nikita Reddy 6-1, 6-2; Prarthana Prabhakar bt Sonashe Bhatnagar 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3); Sharanya Gaware bt Sivanuja Peddada 6-3, 6-1; S.B. Apoorva bt Lasya Patnaik 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3).