At the PET Sports Complex on Wednesday, Batija rallied from the loss of the first set to overcome the Tamil Nadu lad 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and secure his place in the semifinals.
Joining him in the last four were State-mates Kashyap A and Anthony Savio, the third and fourth seeds respectively, and Siddhaarth Reddy S, who put out Akhil Kanagaraj in an all-Tamil Nadu clash.
There was a mini-upset in the girls’ under-14 section too, with seventh seed Preeti Bhandurge of Maharashtra accounting for third-seeded Shameema A of Tamil Nadu in three sets. It was a day to forget for Shameema, who also went down in three sets in the under-16 category to the second-seeded R Binu.
Tamil Nadu’s Pragati Nataraj, meanwhile, put herself in line for a double crown by making the semifinals of both the under-16 and under-14 categories. Top seed in the under-14 section, Pragati was too strong for the fifth-seeded Abhiksha Rath, defeating the Karnataka girl 6-2, 6-2. In U-16 she edged past Kavya N Kumar of Karnataka 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Results: Boys: U-16: Mahesh Batija (Kar) bt 1-TG Subash Kaushik (TN) 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Siddhaarth Reddy S (TN) bt Akhil Kanagaraj (TN) 6-3, 6-2; 3-Kashyap A (Kar) bt C Madan Mohan (TN) 5-7, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3; 4-Anthony Savio (Kar) bt Md Abraar (TN) 6-3, 6-4.
U-14: 1-MS Rakshit (Kar) bt 5-Arjun M (Kar) 6-3, 6-4; R Ramakrishna (TN) bt Anirudh Jaindhan (Ker) 6-3, 6-1; 2-D Siva Satvik (AP) bt Rashwant Ravi (TN) 6-0, 6-0; 4-Nipun Bajaj (AP) bt Akhil Kanagaraj (TN) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Girls: U-16: 1-SP Ritu (Kar) bt 5-Varunya Chandrashekar (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; 2-R Binu (TN) bt Shameema A (TN) 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; 4-Pragati Nataraj (TN) bt 7-Kavya N Kumar (Kar) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Tejashwini Belludi (Kar) bt Shika N Singh (Kar) 6-2, 6-1.
U-14: 7-Preeti Bhandurge (Mah) bt 3-Shameema A (TN) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2; 1-Pragati Nataraj (TN) bt 5-Abhiksha Rath (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; 4-Kavya N Kumar (Kar) bt 8-Janani TG (TN) 6-0, 6-1; 2-CS Praneetha (TN) bt TM Priyadarshni (TN) 6-1, 6-2.
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