Megha Muthukumar of Tamil Nadu and Aarja Chakraborty of West Bengal scripted upset wins en route to the girls singles quarterfinals of the Karle Infra ATF under-14 Asian junior ranking tennis tournament here on Wednesday.
Megha prevailed over the fifth seed K Sai Shivani of Andhra Pradesh 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) in a marathon tie lasting nearly three hours. Both played a very defensive game, waiting to for the opponent to make a mistake and the tie was marked by long rallies. It was Megha’s resilience which held out in the end as Shivani, worn down by the long stint in the sun, faltered on crucial points in the tie-break and went down. Aarja, however, had a much easier time against the eighth seed C Sravya Shivani, winning 6-2,6-2.
It was a mixed day for Karnataka players. Top seed Tanvi Bhat Hattangadi continued her impressive march to the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Bhavya Ramineni.
Muskan Ranjan rallied from a set down to beat Nilanjana Saha of West Bengal 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Fourth seed Shaikh Humera of AP warded off a stiff challenge from local lass Sonashee Bhatnagar 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 while the second seed Shivani Ingle of Maharashtra knocked out another Karnataka girl, Shivani Manjanna 6-3, 6-3. Third seed Sama Sathvika of AP also entered the quarterfinals. The boys’ quarterfinals will be played at the Sadashivanagar Club courts while the girls’ quarterfinal ties will be held at the KSLTA Stadium on Thursday.
Results: Boys: Doubles (quarterfinals): Sai Pranav Ponaka/ Adil Kalyanpur bt Prakrut Patel/ Amit Beniwal 6-4, 6-1; Siddant Jagdish Banthia/ Dhruv Sunish bt Anirudh Murtuy/ Maaz Khan 6-2, 6-3.
Girls singles (pre-quarter-finals): Tanvi Bhat Hattangadi bt Bhavya Ramineni 6-1, 6-1; Megha Muthukumar bt K Sai Shivani 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4); Shivani Ingle bt Shivani Manjanna 6-2, 6-3; Muskan Ranjan bt Nilanjana Saha 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Aarja Chakraborty bt C Sravya Shivani 6-2, 6-2; Shaikh Humera bt Sonashee Bhatnagar 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2; Sivanuja Peddada bt Swatishi Suresh 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-2; Sama Sathvika bt Celine B Mariya 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Shivani Ingle/ Sama Sathvika bt Sivanuja/ Muskan Ranjan 6-1, 6-0.
