Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh players Aryaj Pandey and Mohammad Ariz pulled off major upsets to advance to the second round of the Braj Mohan Lal Tiwari Memorial AITA Championship Series Under-18 Tennis Tournament, defeating seeded opponents in the opening round.
Aryaj Pandey defeated seventh seed Arnav Chauhan, also from Uttar Pradesh, 6-3, 6-4, while Mohammad Ariz outplayed sixth seed Rajveer 6-2, 6-0.
The tournament, organised by SDS Tennis Academy under the aegis of the Uttar Pradesh Tennis Association, was inaugurated at the La Martiniere Lawn Tennis Facility at La Martiniere College. Ajay Dixit, IRS, Member of the GST Appellate Tribunal, Lucknow, attended as the chief guest. The other dignitaries included Vishwas Swarup Agarwal, Director of India Pesticides Limited; Dr Aseem Tikku, former Dean of the Faculty of Dental Sciences and former Executive Council member of King George’s Medical University; and Dr Irshad Ali, former Director of Balrampur Hospital.
Representatives of TVS, including area manager Nilesh Patil, brand manager A.K. Datta and territory manager Vishal Sinha, also encouraged the participating players. Surendra Tiwari, Neeraj Tiwari and Prakhar Tiwari were among those present. SDS Tennis Academy representatives Pawan Sagar and Poonam Sagar welcomed the guests.
In Monday’s first-round main-draw matches, fifth seed Aarav Bhaskar of Uttar Pradesh defeated state-mate Satvik Gupta 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 in a closely contested three-set encounter. Eighth seed Neelotpal Singh overcame Uttarakhand’s Ashwin Chauhan 7-5, 6-0.
Dhruv Singh defeated Avya Shah 6-4, 6-2, while Arya Singh beat Mohammad Sufiyan 6-0, 6-2. Devansh Vij prevailed over Shaurya Singh 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 in another three-set contest.
Arnav Srivastava defeated Mannan Kapoor 6-2, 6-0, and Ekagra Singh beat Aaradhya Agarwal 6-3, 6-2. Adhamya Bhadauria recovered from losing the opening set to defeat Atharv Srivastava 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Fourth seed Virat Singh registered a comfortable 6-0, 6-1 victory over Vaidik Shukla. Tejas Rastogi defeated Vaishvik Gautam 6-1, 6-2, while Anay Srivastava overcame Fahad Ahmed 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 to progress in the tournament.
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