Qualifier Phogat stuns sixth-seeded Selvaraj

Qualifier Yogesh Phogat upset sixth-seeded Ajay Selvaraj while top seed Saketh Myneni coasted to an easy win in the men’s singles first-round matches of the Indian Jute National Grass Court Tennis Championships here on Tuesday.

In the women’s event, top seed Shivika Burman withdrew while leading 4-1 against Smriti Joon of Haryana because of shoulder pain.

Tamil Nadu’s Selvaraj went down to 24-year-old Delhi boy Phogat 4-6, 4-6 at the South Club.
In the day’s opening match on centre court, top seed Myneni won 6-3, 6-1 against his 19-year-old opponent Saurabh Singh of Delhi.

Saketh broke the teenager in the second game of the opening set and went on to demolish him in the first, third and seventh games of set two to march into the pre-quarterfinal.

Saketh later said it was the first time he played on grass. “I was trying to get as much as grip as possible. Grass was good, it’s fun. On grass you have to be at the top of your game as the ball was moving faster.”

In women’s singles, third seed Rushmi Chakravarthi romped into the pre-quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-0 defeat of sixth-ranked Garima Vatwani of Delhi.

Results (first round):
Men’s singles: Saketh Myneni (AP) bt Saurabh Singh (Mah) 6-3 6-1; Ronak Manuja (Mah) bt Mohammad Fariz (TN) 6-2 5-7 6-4; Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (TN) bt Rupesh Roy (Ben) 4-6 6-3 6-4; Nitin Kirrtane (Mah) b Jatin Dahiya (Del) 6-3 6-3; Arpit Sharma (Raj) bt Arup Mallick (Ben) 6-0 6-1; Vinod Gowda (Kar) bt Suraj Beniwal (Har) 6-2 3-1 (retd); Vijay Kannan (TN) bt Timothy Rynold (Ker) 6-3 6-2; Siddharth Rawat (UP) bt Vignesh Veerabhadran (TN) 6-2 6-4; Vignesh Pernamallur (AP) bt Arjun Khade 7-6 (2) 6-3; Yogesh Phoghat (Del) bt Ajai Selvaraj (TN) 6-4 6-4; Shahbaaz Khan (Mah) bt Bibaswan Deb 6-4 6-4; Tejas Chaukalkar (Mah) bt Tejasvi Rao Veerapalli (AP) 6-4 6-0; Suresh Krishna (AP) bt Beat Deepinder Bains (Del) 6-1 6-3.

Women’s singles: Smriti Joon Beat (Har) bt Shivika Burman (Ben) 1-4 retd; Amrita Mukherjee (Ben) bt Dipti Srivastava (Ben) 5-1 retd; Vaniya Dangwal (Del) bt Riya Bhatiya (Del) 6-0 7-6 (2); Garima Vatwani (Del) bt Shruti Archita (Del) 6-1 6-0; Rushmi Chakravarthi (TN) bt Victoria Chahal 6-2 6-0; Rani Smitha Jain (IAF) bt Seema Kumari 6-1 6-0; Manya Nagpal (Del) bt Nilaya Tarmela (AP) 6-4 6-0; Treta Bhattacharya (Ben) bt Saadgi Rajni (Guj) 6-1 6-7 (3) 6-3; Shweta Rana (Del) bt Shalaka Manjunath (Kar) 6-2 6-1; Nupur Kaul bt Mohana Sarkar (Ben) 7-6 (3) 6-3; Arantxa Andrady (Del) bt Deepshikha Gupta (Raj) 6-1 6-0; Pedi Reddy Sri Vaishnavi (AP) bt Sayali Bhilare (Mah) 6-0 6-1; Nehel Sahni (Del) bt Sagarika Phadke (Mah) 6-4 6-3; Sansitha Nandkumar (AP) bt Namita Bal 6-3 6-1; Sahan Shetty (Kar) bt Abhilasha Ahuja (Har) 6-3 6-3; Ankita Raina (Guj) bt Eetee Mehta (Guj) 6-4 7-5.