Karnataka’s Sandesh Kantimahanti, Manish G, Arjun Honnappa and Nikhil Niranjan secured wins to progress to the second round in the boys’ section of the AITA National Series under-16 tennis tournament for the RT Narayan Memorial Trophy at the KSLTA court here on Monday.
Sandesh, who defeated Praveen Sundarama 6-1, 6-2 in the final qualifying round, was at his destructive best as he outclassed Vivekanand MV 6-1, 6-0 while Manish beat of Nandha N Kumar 6-3, 6-2. Arjun powered past Pranav S Ikkurthy 6-0, 6-2 even as Nikhil had tough a battle against T Akhilesh Reddy before emerging a 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2 winner.
Unseeded Kannan Srinivasan, also from Karnataka, rallied from a set down to upset 12th seed Sarthak Suden 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Meanwhile, top seed Dhakshineshwar Suresh of Tamil Nadu had it easy as he beat lucky loser Arya Rajatiraj 6-1, 6-0 to enter the second round.
Sandesh had things under control from the outset as he kept his opponent Vivek at bay with his powerful serves to easily claim the first set 6-1. The second set was no different as he maintained the pressure on Vivek with his hard-hitting shots.
Results: Boys singles: first round: Dhakshineshwar Suresh bt Arya Rajatiraj 6-1, 6-0; Sandesh Kantimahanti bt Vivekanand MV 6-1, 6-0; Nikhil T Niranjan bt T Akhilesh Reddy 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-2; Tanisq Mallpani bt Rishi Rudra Mitra 6-3, 6-3; Kannan Srinivasan bt Sarthak Suden 2-6, 6-1, 7-5; Amaan Tezabwala bt Prasanna P Bagade 6-4, 6-4; Lanka Suhit Reddy bt Kapeesh Khandge 7-5, 6-4; Ashutosh Tiwari bt Rajesh RS Kannan 6-2, 6-3; Karan Srivastava bt Vishwas K 6-1, 6-0; Shaurya Piplani bt Syed Ziauddin Hamza 6-2, 6-1; Manish G bt Nandha N Kumar 6-3, 6-2; Arjun Honnappa bt Pranav S Ikkurthy 6-0, 6-2; Neeraj Yashpal bt Abhinav Nallaparedy 6-1, 6-0; Kamaksh AK Dave bt Rishab Taru Agarwal 6-1, 6-0; Bikramjeet Chawla bt Aryan Pathange 6-2, 6-2; Jaishvin Sin Sidana bt Praneeth V 6-2, 6-2; Siddharth Thakran bt Prasanna PM 6-1, 6-4; Vansh Jangshu lt to TR Rashwanth 1-6, 0-6; Tejasvi Mehra bt Abhishek Mangale 6-4, 6-2; Kushal Yedla bt K Alagappan 6-3, 6-2; Sandeep VM bt Arnav Pathange 6-1, 6-1; Rishab Namashivaya bt Shashank Narde 6-3, 6-3; Kavan Kumar bt Bhavesh Kumar Agarwal 6-1, 6-3.
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