Pranjala and Mahak enter last eight in girls' singles

Fifth seed Pranjala Yadlapalli and unseeded Mahak Jain kept the fast dwindling Indian challenge alive by entering the girls' singles quarterfinals in the BVG India-MSLTA B1 ITF Asian Junior Tennis Championships here today.
However, India's Zeel Desai, from Gujarat, was among three seeded players who made their exit at the pre-quarterfinal stage in the tournament organised by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and the Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association MSLTA's School of tennis.
Guntur-born Pranjala, ranked 94 in the world, survived a gruelling two hour, 20-minute battle in hot conditions against 229-ranked Chinese Yanni Liu, winning 6-3 3-6 6-3 in a pre quarter final match.

Indore's Mahak, ranked 120, got past a fighting Anri Nagata of Japan, winning 7-5 4-6 6-3 to join Pranjala in the quarter finals.
In the upsets of the day, Zhuoma Ni Ma of Japan - ranked 149 - ousted second-seeded world no 72 and second-seeded Mayuka Aikawa of Japan 6-4 6-3, another Chinese Xiyu Wang ranked a lowly 206, upset third-seeded Zeel Desai 6-3 7-6(3) in one hour and 55 minutes.
Unseeded Filipino Khim Iglupas upset fourth seed and 81st-ranked Zhima Du, of China, 6-3 6-4 in a one-sided battle.

The Indian challenge in the boys' section ended with the exit of Adil Kalyanpur, from Bengaluru, in the round of sixteen.

Second-seed Lim Alberto of Philippines, ranked 31, outplayed Kalyanpur - a member of the junior India Davis Cup team - 6-3 6-2 to reach the last eight stage.
The local interest in the girls' doubles was kept alive by the pair of Mahak and Pune's Snehal Mane as they made it to the quarterfinals edging out Juleta Budiman and Priyana Kalita of Indonesia 6-7(5) 6-2(10-8).
Pranjala also made it to the last eight in doubles along with Japanese partner Mayuka Aikawa. The duo scored a 6-4 6-4 win against Indian pair Sama Sathwika and Mihika Yadav.