Youngster Maaya produces upset in National Tennis Championship, Manish makes strong start

15-year-old breezes past 4th-seeded Lakshmi Arunkumar in straight sets

Khel Today Bureau

New Delhi: Maaya Revathi produced a scintillating performance to upset fouth-seeded Arunkumar Prabh 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets in the first round of the ongoing 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old from Tamil Nadu lost the first game of the opening set but soon came to her groove and used her swift movements and sublime net play to break Lakshmi’s serve. She continued her momentum, winning the next five games in a row to clinch the first set.

Maaya, who holds the record for the longest ITF Juniors winning streak, looked even better in the second set, breaking her opponent’s serve in the first game and quickly taking a 2-0 lead. Laxmi pushed to make a comeback after winning the third game but the five ITF Juniors singles titles & three ITF Juniors doubles titles winner did not lose the momentum and notched up a fine victory to move into the next round of the tournament.

Meanwhile, second-seed Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu also made a fine start to the tournament in the men’s singles category and defeated Jagmeet Singh of Haryana to reach the second round.

The first set saw a see-saw battle and went into a tie-breaker where the former champion reigned supreme with a powerful forehand from the baseline and won it by 7-6 (4) before clinching the following set 6-0 without losing a game.

In other men’s singles first-round matches, Telangana’s Theertha Shashank defeated Shivank Bhatnagar of Delhi 6-4, 6-2, while Manipur’s Bhusan Haobam beat Suraj R Prabodh of Karnataka 6-1, 7-5 in straight sets.

Meanwhile, Pooja Inghale of Maharashtra got the better of Telangana’s Nirali Padaniya 6-3, 6-1 in the women’s singles category. Seventh seed Maharashtra’s Sejal Bhutada defeated Vidhi Jani or Gujarat 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in a three-set thriller.

Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.

The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category qualifying and main draw matches will be played from October 5 to October 12.