The Haryana brigade of second seed Chirag Duhan, fifth seed Krishna Hooda and ninth seed Karan Singh stormed into semi-finals of the boys’ singles event of the CCI 13th Ramesh Desai Memorial All India Nationals Under-16 Tennis Tournament 2019, organized by the Cricket Club of India and played at the CCI tennis courts on Thursday.
Chirag ranked fifth on the AITA ranking list dropped just three games as he comfortably defeated Maharashtra’s Anargha Ganguly in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in a quarter-final encounter.
On an adjacent court, the eighth ranked Krishna tamed his statemate Ajay Singh posting a quick 6-2, 6-0 win to set up a clash with Chirag in the penultimate round on Friday.
Karan, the 12th ranked India, produced a powerful performance to halt the fine run of Madhya Pradesh’s Ayushmaan Arjeria by coasting to an emphatic 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Fourth seed Dhruv Tangri of Punjab ensured a northern domination as he strolled past Maharashtra’s Saheb Sodhi, winning at 6-3, 6-1 in another one-sided quarter-final match.
In the girls’ singles competition, Telangana’s top seed Sanjana Sirimalla staved a spirited challenge from Gujarat’s Divya Bhardwaj before pulling off 6-4, 7-5 win in a well-contested last eight match.
Haryana girls, seventh seed Renne Singla and eighth seed Pari Singh joined Sanjana in the penultimate round. Renne Singla waltzed to a 6-0, 6-2 win against Gujarat’s Vidhi Jani, while Pari outclassed Karnataka’s Reshma Maruri 6-1, 6-2 in quarter-final encounters.
Karnataka’s Naisha Srivastav continued with her brilliant winning run as eased past Maharashtra’s Bhumika Tripathi scripting a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Meanwhile, in girls’ doubles semi-final action, the Maharashtra pair of Rutuja Chaphalkar and Hrudaya Shah overcame their compatriots Sai Rajesh Bhoyar and Ishita Jadhav 6-3, 6-0 to book their place in Friday’s finals.
In the summit clash they will take on the combination of Renne Singla (Haryana) and Vaishnavi Adkar (Maharashtra) who defeated the Tamil Nadu pairing of Laxmi Arunkumar and Karthika Vijay 6-0, 6-3.
In boys’ doubles semi-final matches, Nikhil Niranjan (Karnataka) and Denim Yadav (Madhya Pradesh) got the better of Deep Munim (Madhya Pradesh) and Arjun Gohad (Maharashtra) 6-4, 7-6(1) and the Haryana duo of Ajay Singh and Krishana Hooda prevailed over Sam Chawla (Haryana) and Akash Deb (Assam) 6-2, 6-1.
Results – Girls’ singles (quarter-finals): 1-Sanjana Sirimalla (TS) beat Divya Bhardwaj (GJ) 6-4, 7-5; 8-Pari Singh (HR) beat Reshma Maruri (KA) 6-1, 6-2; 7-Renne Singla (HR) beat Vidhi Jani (GJ) 6-0, 6-2; Naisha Srivastav (KA) beat Bhumika Tripathi (MH) 6-3, 6-1.
Boys’ singles (quarter-finals): 9-Karan Singh (HR) beat Ayushmaan Arjeria (MP) 6-0, 6-1; 4-Dhruv Tangri (PB) beat Saheb Sodhi (MH) 6-3, 6-1; 5-Krishna Hooda (HR) beat Ajay Singh (HR) 6-2, 6-0; 2-Chirag Duhan (HR) beat Anargha Ganguly (MH) 6-2, 6-1.
Girls doubles (semi-finals): Rutuja Chaphalkar(MH)/Hrudaya Shah (MH) beat Sai Rajesh Bhoyar (MH)/Ishita Jadhav (MH) 6-3, 6-0; Renne Singla (HR)/Vaishnavi Adkar (MH) beat Laxmi Arunkumar (TN)/Karthika Vijay (TN) 6-0, 6-3.
Boys doubles (semi-finals): Nikhil Niranjan(KA)/Denim Yadav (MP) beat Deep Munim (MP)/Arjun Gohad (MH) 6-4, 7-6(1); Ajay Singh (HR)/Krishan Hooda (HR) beat Sam Chawla (HR)/Akash Deb (AS) 6-2, 6-1.