Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh’s young tennis talent made a powerful statement at the IATA Super Series Under-18 Tennis Tournament, as multiple players from the state stormed into the pre-quarterfinals in both boys’ and girls’ singles.
In the girls’ singles, UP’s Aira, Anusha Singh, Aashi Shamsheri, Tashi Kiran and Raminder Deep Kaur advanced to the Round of 16 with impressive first-round victories.
- Aira defeated Haryana’s Anya Sahni 6-4, 6-3.
- Anusha Singh beat Geetika Saraswat 6-3, 6-1.
- Aashi Shamsheri dominated Devyani Shukla 6-0, 6-0.
- Tashi Kiran and Raminder Deep Kaur progressed via walkovers.
However, UP’s 8th seed Vaneesha Jadoun retired against Delhi’s Mehar Sharma.
In the boys’ singles, UP showed strong dominance with six seeded players reaching the last 16:
- 3rd seed Rishi Yadav beat Arnav Chaudhary (Maharashtra) 6-0, 6-3.
- 4th seed Aryaman Chavan edged Shreyansh (WB) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
- 5th seed Aniruddh Kumar defeated Shubham Pandey (UP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
- 6th seed Raghav Prabhu beat Sudit Goyal (Delhi) 6-2, 6-2.
- Aansh Saxena won a thrilling three-setter over Mohammad Sufiyan 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2.
- Harsh Singh, Anuj Kumar and Mohd. Sheez also registered dominant wins.
Top seed Harsh Malik (Haryana) defeated UP’s Patterson Chhavi 6-2, 6-0, while Maharashtra’s Shaurya beat UP’s Virat Singh 6-1, 6-2.
The tournament, organised by the Uttar Pradesh Tennis Association and Sports Development Society (SDS) at the La Martiniere Lawn Tennis Facility, is sponsored by Shalimar Group.
The event was inaugurated by Retd. GST Chief Commissioner Ajay Dixit, with special guests La Martiniere Principal Gary Dominic Everett, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Seth, Vishwas Swarup Agrawal (India Pesticides Ltd.), and Kunal Seth (Shalimar Group) in attendance.
With a strong presence in both categories, Team UP is emerging as a powerhouse, raising expectations for deep runs in the championship.
