Top seed Nikshep survives scare, advances to quarter-finals in junior tennis open

B.R. Nikshep

Chennai, Aug 20 (IANS) Top seed B.R. Nikshep of Karnataka continued his run squeezing past Sanil Jagtiani of West Bengal in two tie-break sets to enter the boys singles quarter-finals in the MCC-ADIDAS National Junior clay court tennis championship here Wednesday.

Basil Khuma of Delhi was an impressive winner against Vaishnav Bendalam, while S. Manish of Tamil Nadu, a qualifier who stoked freely and positively, put down a tentative Gokul Suresh in three sets.

The big surprise in the boys singles came when Karnataka's Vasisht Vinod Cheruka knocked out the talented Aryan Goveas of Maharashtra, seeded seventh in straight sets while 15th ranked Nitin Kumar Sinha (West Bengal) eliminated fifth seed Paramveer Singh Bajwa (Punjab) in three tight sets.

In the girls singles, top seed Simran Kaur Sethi won without a much ado against Priyana Kalita to reach the quarter-finals.

The results:

Boys singles (3rd round): 1-Nikshep BR (Kar) bt Sanil Jagtiani (WB) 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3);

8-Manav N Pondkule (Mah) bt Akhil Reuben Kanagaraj (TN) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3;

13-Basil L Khuma (WB) bt Vaishnav Bendalam (AP) 6-1, 6-3;

9-Vasisht Vinod Cheruka (Kar) bt 7-Aryan Goveas (Mah) 6-2, 6-3;

15-Nitin Kumar Sinha (WB) bt 5-Paramveer Singh Bajwa (Pnb) 7-6 (6), 6-3;

4-Venkata Gnana Bhaskar (AP) bt Taha Kapadia (AP) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4;

Q-Raghav Jai Singhani (MP) bt Q-Yuvraj Singh (Har) 1-6, 6-2, 6-3;

Q-S Manish (TN) bt Gokul Suresh (TN) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

Girls singles (3rd round): 1-Simran Kaur Sethi (Del) bt Priyana Kalita (Asm) 6-1, 6-3;

15-Sathwika Sama (AP) bt 8-Shristi Slaria (Pnb) 6-2, 6-4;

3-Devanshi Bhimjiyani (Mah) bt Q-Prinkle Singh (JK) 7-5, 6-1;

9-Abinikka R (TN) bt 7-Himani Mor (Har) 6-3,6-0;

Rishika Ravi (TN) bt Rashmitha Pasula (AP) 6-2, 6-1;

4-Zeel Desai (Guj) bt 14-Nandini Sharma (Pnb) 6-3, 6-0;

16-Ramya Natarajan (TN) bt 6-Jennifer Luikham (Har) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3;

2-Vanshika Sawhney (Del) bt 11-Moulika B Ram (AP) 6-3, 6-3.