Siddhanth upsets Prabodh to move into second round

NEWDELHI: Promising Siddhanth Banthia upset fourth seed Suraj R Prabodh 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the men’s singles second round at the Fenesta Open national tennis championship in DLTA courts on Tuesday.

The Pune boy is the country’s top junior and first Indian to win the Road to Wimbledon competition.

Siddhanth, who has been making his presence felt in junior Grand Slams, won in the U-18 category too, where he is the top seed. He got the better of last year’s runner-up Rohan Mehra 6-2, 6-3 in the second round of the under-18 boys singles.

“I came into the match with self-belief. I think the biggest factor was my serve. I was consistent. I did not giving him any point on my serve in the first three game,” said Siddhant.

In other matches, Siddharth

SIDDHANTH, WHO HAS BEEN MAKING HIS PRESENCE FELT IN JUNIOR GRAND SLAMS, WON IN THE U18 CATEGORY TOO, WHERE HE IS THE TOP SEED. HE GOT THE BETTER OF LAST YEAR’S RUNNERUP ROHAN MEHRA

Rawat overcame a tough challenge from Vinayak Sharma Kaza. Siddharth won 6-4, 7-5..

Seasoned VM Ranjeet sailed past Prithvi S 6-1, 6-3 while former national champion Mohit Mayur defeated Dakshineshwar Suresh 6-3,6-2.

In women’s singles, fifth-seed Humera Shaik survived a scare against Pratibha P. Narayan before prevailing 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-3.

Experienced Shweta Rana defeated Ayushi Tanwar 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.

Results Men’s singles Rd 1 Siddharth Rawat (seed 3) (UP) bt Kaza V Sharma(AP) 6-4,7-5; Nitin Kumar Sinha (seed 5) (WB) bt Dhruv Sunish (MH) 6-3,6-1; Mohit M JayaPrakash (seed 8) (TN) bt Dakshineshwar Suresh (TN)6-3,6-2; VM Ranjeet (TN) bt Prthvi S (TN) 6-1,6-3; Anshu Bhuyan (OD) bt Ajay Malik (H) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; S D Prajwal Dev (KA) bt Armaan Bhatia (MH) 76(3), 6-1; Anirudh C P (TS) bt Abhinav Sanjeev (TN) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4; Yugal Bansal (DL) bt Sivadeep Kosaraju (TS) 6-3; 7-5; Siddhanth Banthia (MH) bt S Prabodh (KA) 6-3, 6-2

Women’s singles -Rd 1: Humera Shaik (TS) (Seed 5) bt Prathiba P Narayan (KA) 7-6 (6), 0-6, 6-3; R Natrajan (TN) (seed 6) bt Prathyusha Rachap(TN) 63,6-1; Shweta Rana (DL) bt Ayushi Tanwar(RJ) 6-1, 6-4; Sathwika Sama (TS) bt Vanshita Pathania(KA) 6-1,6-1; Anusha Kondaveeti(AP) bt Arti Muniyan(TN) 2-6,7-5,6-0 Muskan Gupta (DL) bt Mihika Yadav(MH) 63,6-1; Natasha Pahla (GA) bt Kaavya Sawhney (UP) 6-1, 6-2;