Karan Rastogi served and stroked with robust energy to outwit former champion Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-4 in the men’s quarterfinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Thursday.
Vishnu also played a vibrant game, but Karan was able to keep his composure and played better to set up a semifinal against defending champion Manish Sureshkumar.
Ishaque Eqbal recovered from being down 2-5 in the first set tie-break to beat Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-6(5), 7-6(2). He will play another former champion Siddharth Vishwakarma who quelled the challenge from V.M. Ranjeet in straight sets.
In the women’s section, Vaishnavi Adkar and Shrivalli Bhamidipaty caught the eye with their vibrant games. They will play each other in the semifinals. The other semifinal will be between defending champion Vaidehi Chaudhari and Sandeepti Singh Rao.
In the junior girls’ section, Suhitha Maruri recovered from being down 3-5 in the decider. She saved a match point before beating Asmi Adkar 6-2, 5-7, 7-5. Harithashree Venkatesh played smart to get past top seed Sonal Patil in three sets.
The results (quarterfinals):
Men: Ishaque Eqbal bt Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-6(5), 7-6(2); Siddharth Vishwakarma bt V.M. Ranjeet 6-4, 6-1; Manish Sureshkumar bt Nitin Kumar Sinha 6-2, 6-1; Karan Singh bt Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-4.
Women: Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Lakshmi Prabha 6-2, 6-3; Sandeepti Singh Rao bt Akanksha Nitture 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Sejal Bhutada 6-2, 6-1; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Sai Samhitha 6-0, 6-1.
Under-18 boys: Arjun Rathi bt Suresh Keerthivassan 1-6, 7-5, 6-1; Rushil Khosla bt Kashit Nagrale 6-2, 6-2; Samarth Sahita bt Shanker Heisnam 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Cahir Warik bt Manish Yadav 6-2, 6-0.
Under-18 girls: Harithashree Venkatesh bt Sonal Patil 6-2, 2-6, 6-4; Aishwarya Jadhav bt Maaya Rajeshwaran 6-2, 6-3; Diya Ramesh bt Aakruti Sonkusare 6-1, 6-2; Suhitha Maruri bt Asmi Adkar 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.