Top seed and defending champion Natasha Palha of Goa recorded an authoritative 6-4, 6-2 win over Punjab’s Nandini Sharma to book her place in the women’s title round of the Rs 13 lakh AITA Ranking Anirudh Desai JVPG Tennis Tournament, hosted by JVPG, in association with Nine Hills, at their courts, here, on Friday.
Natasha
Natasha will take on 7th seed Rashmi Teltumbde, who defeated second seed Sharrmada Baluu of Karnataka 6-4, 6-2. Sharrmada, who twisted her ankle in the first set was a mere passenger in the second set. Both Natasha and Rashmi will also feature in the women’s doubles finals, winning the semi-final encounters with their respective partners.
In men’s action, Mumbai’s Aryan Goveas continued his fine form, defeating 8th seed Jayesh Pungaliya of Pune 6-4, 7-6 (3) to advance into the men’s singles semi-finals. The 17-year-oldGoveas will take on top seed Mohit Mayur, who accounted for 5th seed Siddharth Vishwakarma of UP 6-4, 6-0. The second semi-final will feature third seed Anvit Bendre of Pune and Kunal Anand of Delhi. While Bendre recovered from the loss of the first set against the wily seventh seed, Vijay Kannan of TN, to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, the experienced Anand was taken the distance by AP’s Sai Saran Byreddy before winning 4-6, 6-0,7-6 (1).
Aryan
With Goveas’s big first serve deserting him, the going was tough in the first set as both players traded early breaks. However, Goveas then broke Pungaliya in the ninth game and then served out the set.
The second set also saw both players trading early breaks and then holding serve to take the set into the tie-breaker, where Goveas jumped to an early 3-0 lead and kept his nose ahead to win it 7-3.
The left-handed Vishwakarma managed to trouble the top seed a bit in the first set with his big serves and baseline shots finding the spots on the flanks. He also had two break points each against Mayur in two games but could not capitalize on them. However, one break was enough for Mayur to take the first set 6-4. The second was a no contest ad errors began creeping into Vishwakarma’s game and Mayur trooped out a comfortable winner.
Women Singles (Semi Final): 1-Natasha Palha (GA) bt Nandini Sharma (PB) 6-4, 6-2; 7-Rashmi Teltumbde (MH) bt 2-Sharrmada Ballu (KA) 6-4, 6-0;
Men Singles (Quarter Final): 3-Anvit Bendre (MH) bt 7-Vijay Kannan (TN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; 1-Mohit Mayur (TN) bt 5-Siddharth Vishwakarma (UP) 6-4, 6-0; Aryan Goveas (MH) bt 8-Jayesh Pungliya (MH) 6-4, 7-6(3); Kunal Anand (DL) bt Sai Saran Byreddy (AP) 4-6, 6-0, 7-6(1)
Women Doubles (Semi-Finals): 1- Natasha Palha (GA) & Sharrmada Balu (KA) bt 4-Moulika Ram (AP) & Aastha Dargude (MH) 7-6(0), 6-1; 2-Shwetaa Rana (DL) & Rashmi Teltumbde (MH) bt 3-Amrita Mukherjee (WB) & Samhitha C Sai (TN) 6-2, 6-3.
(The first semi-final will be played at 2.30 pm and the second semi-final will be held at 4.30 pm followed by the women’s final.)