JOIN USSandesh, Manish in second round
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.