Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis: Rushabh Mehta takes third seed Darbha to the distance, top seeds have it easy

Third seed Sanjay Darbha survived a big scare on the second day of the Taste’L GSTA ITF Tennis tournament on Tuesday. The five-day tennis tournament is being held in association with L&T Mutual Fund at the newly refurbished tennis courts at Practennis, Andheri.

Sanjay Dharba was pushed to the limit by Rushabh Mehta

Sanjay Dharba had to dig deep to get the better of Rushabh Mehta. The third seed quelled a spirited challenge from Mehta to move into the third round of the men’s 40 plus singles division.

Rushabh Mehta put on a brave display but failed to deliver a knock-out punch. Darbha won two tie-breakers to emerge victorious with the scoreline reading 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (4).

It was a tense first set as Darbha squeezed past Mehta in the first set of the tie-breaker. Mehta bounced back to claim the second set 6-4, putting the pressure right back on Darbha. In the third and deciding set, Darbha had to use all his experience to stop Mehta from winning the match. The third seed eventually won the final set 7-6(4)

Other top seeds had easier outings at the Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament

It was easy sailing for top seed Aditya Khanna and second seed Vishal Badri at the Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament. They recorded straight-set victories to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s 35 plus singles. While Khanna got past Sunny Singh 6-2, 6-0, Badri hardly broke a sweat before packing off Nitesh Rungta 6-1, 6-0.

In the only upset of the day, unseeded Girish Mishra defeated R Pandey 6-4, 6-4 in a close encounter.

The story was similar in the 40 plus category at the Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament

The top seeds in the 40 plus category at the Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament moved into the third round with comfortable wins. However, their competition is expected to heat up in the quarterfinals with several top seeds set to face each other.

In the 50 plus category second seed Panwar Singh overcame a slow start before rallying to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 against Biswajit Roy.

Home favorite D Ramarao of Practennis put up a strong fight before going down to top seed Govind Kumar 4-6, 6-4, 4-6 in the men’s 70 plus category.

Results at Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis

Here are the results from Tuesday:

Men’s 35 plus (3rd round) results at Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament

1-Aditya Khanna bt Sunny Singh 6-2, 6-0; 5-Rewant Datta bt Satish Duryodhan 6-0, 6-1; Girish Mishra bt 4-R Pandey 6-4, 6-4; Ajai Selvaraj bt R Shaih 6-0, 6-3; Vipin Sirpual bt V Parakunnil 6-2, 6-2; Vishal Badri bt Nitesh Rungta 6-1, 6-0.

40 plus (2nd round) results at Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament

N Choudhary (1) bt Balraj D 6-0, 6-0; J Arphuthraj bt Amit Sharma 6-2, 7-5; Jigar Jetly bt Kapil Parekh 6-4, 6-1; 3-Sanjay Darbha bt Rushabh Mehta 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (4); 2-Amit Tambe bt Mahesh Shinde 6-1, 6-0; Amit Shinde bt K Rawat 6-3, 6-2.

50 plus (2nd round) results at Taste’L GSTA ITF tennis tournament

T Thongbam bt Bijal Modi 6-0, 6-1; 2-Panwar Singh bt Biswajit Roy 1-6, 6-2, 6-1; 9-Bhushan Akut bt Sanjay Ashar 6-2, 6-3; 7-Vyas Rahul bt Ashish Dikey 6-1, 6-1.