New Delhi, Oct 8

Pranav Karthik, the 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu, caused a major upset on Wednesday at the 31st Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship, rallying from a set down to defeat No. 4 seed Udit Kamboj in the second round at the DLTA in New Delhi.

Kamboj won the first set 6-1 and was neck-and-neck with his younger rival in the second set, which went to a tiebreak. Karthik won the tiebreak 7-3 and carried that momentum into the decider to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in 2 hours and 31 minutes.

“To be honest, I was thinking I was going to lose for sure after the horrible first set,” Karthik said after the win. “I just kept serving well and maintaining my service games. And when it came to the tiebreak, it was 50-50. Then I just pulled it off with 3-4 good points. When I pulled off the tiebreak, I got more confidence and started going for my shots.

"The first game of the third set is always important because you have to keep pushing through and keep the momentum because you don't want to give him the breathing space. And thankfully, I got the break in the first game, and then I was able to run away with the match after that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the men’s top seed Manish Sureshkumar had little trouble defeating Lakshit Sood 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. He was joined in the last eight by No. 6 seed Maan Kesharwani, No. 8 seed Rohan Mehra and Suraj Prabodh, who knocked out second seed Aditya Balsekar in the previous round on Tuesday. Sureshkumar and partner Nitin Sinha are also top seeds in the men’s doubles draw and are scheduled to play their quarter-final match later in the evening.

Also, the top five players in the women’s singles draw booked their spots in the quarterfinals, with Vaidehee Chaudhari defeating 16-year-old Ahaan Ahaan 6-4, 6-1, while Shruti Ahlawat beat Parthsarthi Mundhe 6-2, 6-2.

“It was not easy or comfortable. I think the opponent was very good,” Ahlawat said after the victory. “I had to do everything to close the game, win the points. The score might look easy, but the match was good. I'm thinking point by point, match by match rather than thinking, I'll win the tournament. I would focus on my next round match and then see how it goes,” he added.

Third seed Akanksha Nitture also advanced, coming back after dropping the second set to defeat Yubrani Banerjee 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

“I started well in the second set,” Nitture said. “I was hoping to finish it in two sets. She played well on the crucial points. But I had to reset for the third set. I knew that I needed to change a few things that I did wrong in the second set. I changed it in the third set, and it worked for me. I started keeping more balls in and started playing more consistently and mindfully.”

There was also a big upset in the Boys' U-18 singles draw as top seed Praneel Sharma was bundled out 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 by Veer Jiten Madam. Fourth seed Om Ramesh Patel and fifth seed Aditya Mor won their third-round matches in straight sets to join Madam in the quarterfinals.

In the Girls' U-18 event, top seed Savitha Bhuvaneswaran was stretched to the limit by 14th seed Aahida Singh. The two battled for 2 hours and 45 minutes before Singh was forced to retire, with Bhuvaneswaran leading 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-0. Bhuvaneswaran was joined by second seed Parthsarthi Mundhe and third seed Shreeniti Chowdhury in the quarterfinals.

Results:

Men’s Singles Second Round (Round of 16):

Manish Sureshkumar [1] def. Lakshit Sood 6-0, 6-1

Pranav Karthik def. Udit Kamboj [4] 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2

Maan Kesharwani [6] def. Rohith Gobinath 6-1, 6-2

Rohan Mehra [8] def. Ajay Malik 7-6 (7-3), 6-3

Suraj R Prabodh def. Debasis Sahoo 6-4, 6-4

R Jaisinghani def. Prakaash Sarran 6-5, 7-6 (9-7)

Parth Aggarwal def. Deep Munim 7-5, 6-2

Women’s Singles Second Round (Round of 16):

Vaidehee Chaudhari [1] def. Aahan Aahan 6-4, 6-1

Shruti Ahlawat [2] def. P Mundhe 6-1, 6-3

Akanksha Nitture [3] def. Yubrani Banerjee 6-1, 4-6, 6-1

Sonal Patil [4] def. Akansha Ghosh 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4

Aditi Rawat [5] def. A Sonkusare 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Laxmi Siri Dandu [7] def. Bela S Tamhankar 6-0 (retd.)

Sohini Mohanty [8] def. A Jadhav 6-3, 6-2

Soha Sadiq def. Saily Thakkar 6-1, 6-0

Men’s Doubles Quarterfinal:

Aditya Balsekar [3] / Pranav Karthik [3] def. Sandesh D Kurale / Prasad Ingale 6-1, 6-4

Jagmeet Singh [4] / Parth Aggarwal [4] def. Nain / Choudhary 6-3, 7-6 (7-3)

Rohith Gobinath / Srikar Doni def. Karan Singh/ Aryan Chauhan 6-3, 7-5

Boys U-18 Singles Third Round (Round of 16):

Veer Jiten Madam def. Praneel Sharma [1] 7-6 (7-4), 6-4

Om Ramesh Patel [4] def. Sharan Somasi [11] 6-3, 6-1

Aditya Mor [5] def. Lakshya Chukka [16] 6-2, 7-5

Yashwin Dahiya [15] def. Parjanya Adury [7] 6-4, 6-2

Ribhav Saroha [10] def. N Kirbakaran 6-0, 6-3

Raghav Sarode [12] def. Srivaant Mummadi 6-3, 6-3

N Badrinarayanan def. Aarav Bharat 6-4, 6-0

Srikar Doni def. Govardan Suresh 6-1, 6-3

Girls U-18 Singles Third Round (Round of 16):

S Bhuvaneswaran [1] def. Aahida Singh [14] 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-0 (retd.)

Parthsarthi Mundhe [2] def. Manvi Gupta 6-0, 6-0

Shreeniti Chowdhury [3] def. Aaradhya Meena [9] 6-3, 0-6, 6-4

Aahan Aahan [7] def. Aashi Kashyap [12] 6-3, 6-1

Anjhalle Meka def. Shibani Gupte [10] 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Harsha Oruganti def. Ranjhana Sangram [13] 6-3, 6-2

Riddhi Shinde def. Heera V [16] 6-1, 6-2

Iha Joshi def. Miraya Agrawal 6-0, 7-6 (7-5)

Boys U-18 Doubles Quarterfinal:

Praneel Sharma / Aditya Mor [1] def. Sharan Somasi / Lakshya Chukka 6-4, 7-5

Girls U-18 Doubles Quarterfinal:

Ranjhana Sangram / Sarena Gahlot def. Vaishnavi Singh / Aaradhya Meena [1] 7-5, 6-1

Shibani Gupte / Tanusshri Sathesh [2]def. Aashi Kashyap / Vrandika Rajput 4-6, 6-4, 10-6

Sanmitha Harini / S Bhuvaneswaran [3] def. Manvi Rathi / Paavani Bisht 6-1, 6-0

Sree Syleswari Velmanikandan / Riddhi Shinde [4] def. Heera V / Sree Sasthayini Velmanikandan 4-6, 6-4, 10-6

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Fenesta Open: Karthik upsets Kamboj; top seeds Manish Sureshkumar, Vaidehee Chaudhari in QF