No sweat for Balaji; second seed Rishika shown the door

NEW DELHI: Experienced campaigner Sriram Balaji thrashed Delhi’s Rubal Shandilya in men’s singles to make a fluent start while Shweta Rana caused the first upset of the Fenesta Open, the National tennis championship, by knocking out second seed Rishika Sunkara in the women’s singles, here on Monday.

Top seed Balaji crushed the challenge of Shandilya 6-1, 6-2 while Shweta got the better of Rishika 7-5, 6-1 in her first round.

Balaji served well throughout, playing aggressive. There was no major upset in other men’s singles matches with third seed and former national champion Mohit Mayur and Sidharth Rawat warming up for tougher battles ahead. Third seed Jayaprakash edged Jayesh Pungliya 7-5, 7-6 (6), while Rawat ousted Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-3, 6-0.

In the boys’ under-18, top seed Aryan Goveas did not drop a single game as he whipped Jaydeep Chudasama 6-0, 6-0, while seventh seed Alex Solanki had an easy outing against Amarnath Arora, wining 6-1 6-3.

Aryan later competed in the men’s singles too but lost a close match 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) against Siddharth Vishwakarma.

BALAJI SERVED WELL THROUGHOUT, PLAYING AGGRESSIVE. THERE WAS NO MAJOR UPSET IN OTHER MEN’S SINGLES MATCHES WITH THIRD SEED AND FORMER NATIONAL CHAMPION MOHIT MAYUR AND SIDHARTH RAWAT WARMING UP FOR TOUGHER BATTLES AHEAD