Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh’s Adya Bhatnagar produced a major upset in the girls’ singles category of the AITA CS-7 Under-18 Boys & Girls Tennis Tournament, defeating eighth seed Geetika Saraswat to storm into the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
In the boys’ singles category, seventh seed Virat Singh showcased remarkable composure to edge past Dhruv Singh in a gripping super tie-break encounter and book his place in the last eight. Second seed Anuruddh Kumar, third seed Meher Singh Khosla and fourth seed Vanshraj Jalota also advanced with convincing victories.
The tournament is being organised by SDS Tennis Academy at the Lamartinier Lawn Tennis Facility, Lamartinier College, Lucknow.
Adya Pulls Off Big Upset
The girls’ singles pre-quarterfinals witnessed strong performances from Uttar Pradesh players, although second seed Manusmriti Singh of Madhya Pradesh also progressed comfortably.
Unseeded Adya Bhatnagar emerged as the standout performer of the day, defeating eighth seed Geetika Saraswat of Uttar Pradesh 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets to secure a memorable upset victory and a quarter-final berth.
Fourth seed Tashi Kiran of Uttar Pradesh dominated Pawani Shukla 6-2, 6-0, while top seed Neeti Santosh Dubey overcame fellow state player Adya Singh 6-1, 6-4 in a competitive clash.
Third seed Aira defeated Sanskriti Gautam 6-2, 6-3, and sixth seed Vanisha Jadon got the better of Avni Bhatia 6-3, 6-4.
In other matches, seventh seed Aashi Shamshery defeated Aashi Kiran 6-1, 6-0, Shripriya Singhal beat Raminderdeep Kaur 6-2, 6-4, while second seed Manusmriti Singh outclassed Uttar Pradesh’s Ananya Singh 6-0, 6-0 to move into the quarter-finals.
Virat Holds Nerve in Thriller
In the boys’ singles pre-quarterfinals, seventh seed Virat Singh of Uttar Pradesh fought back strongly in the super tie-break to defeat Dhruv Singh 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 in one of the most exciting matches of the day.
Virat claimed the opening set before Dhruv bounced back to level the contest. However, Virat dominated the deciding super tie-break to seal his quarter-final spot.
Top seed Faiz Kidwai defeated Satvik Gupta 6-3, 6-3, while third seed Meher Singh Khosla overcame Devansh Vij in a closely fought match 6-4, 6-3.
Second seed Anuruddh Kumar registered a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 victory over Pranav Sharma to advance, while fourth seed Vanshraj Jalota defeated Mohammad Ariz 6-2, 6-2.
Fifth seed Ankit of Telangana beat Uttarakhand’s Ashwin Chauhan 6-3, 6-2, Uttar Pradesh’s Rohin Raj defeated Aditya Vaibhav 6-2, 6-0, and Maharashtra’s Nipun Chauhan overcame Rishant Jaiswal 7-5, 6-2 to complete the quarter-final lineup.
