Qualifer Vipasha powers past fourth seed Sanya into semis

Qualifier Vipasha Mehra of Maharashtra showed a strong will-power to fight and tremendous energy levels as she put up a gallant display to knock off fourth-seeded Sanya Singh also from Maharashtra in a marathon girls’ singles quarter-final match of the MSLTA - Yonex Sunrise 12th Ramesh Desai Memorial CCI All India Nationals Under-16 (boys & girls) Tennis Tournament 2018.

Ranked 63rd on the AITA ranking list, the Pune-based Vipasha, who had defeated eighth seed Gargi Pawar in the previous round, produced another gutsy performance to put it across the fifth ranked Sanya in three long drawn and energy draining sets, winning at 64, 4-6, 7-6(5) in a little over four hours, at the Cricket Club of India tennis courts, Churchgate on Thursday afternoon.

The left-handed Vipasha, who showed more aggression and stronger services started well as she comfortably won the first set, but Sanya did well to win the second to level the scores and force the decider. In the third set, Sanya managed to stay in the fight and saved four match points in the 12th game and to take the set to the tie-breaker. Vipasha raced to a 3-1 and 4-2 lead before Sanya managed to draw level at 4-all, and after both players won one more points each, the former managed to win the next two points to close out the match.

Meanwhile, second seeds, Udit Gogoi of Assam and Prerna Vichare of Maharashtra, both smoothly progressed to the boys’ and girls’ singles semi-finals respectively.

The Assam youngster Udit, number five on the AITA Ranking list, charged past his 99th ranked opponent Nishant Dabas of Delhi, winning at 6-1, 6-3 in a quarter-final match, at the Cricket Club of India tennis courts, Churchgate on Thursday morning.

In the girls’ singles quarter-final encounter, the AITA third rank Maharashtra girl Prerna dropped just one game as she went on to record an crushing 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Uttar Pradesh’s 16th ranked Vanshika Choudhary, who had had no answers to her rivals superior and power play.

In the penultimate round, Prerna will clash with compatriot Sudipta Senthil Kumar.

Meanwhile, in an interesting boys’ singles match, fourth seed Divesh Gahlot of Haryana showed solid fighting qualities as he rallied from a set down to overcome seventh seed Dhruv Tangri (PB) 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 to make the semi-finals.