Ajay beats Sahil, enters second round

Chandigarh, February 19

Haryana’s Ajay Malik overcame Maharashtra’s Sahil Gaware in a see-saw battle to move into the second round of the MCC-SR Subramaniam Memorial AITA Men’s Championship in Chennai on Tuesday.

Malik won the opening set 6-3 but Gaware fought his way back into the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. Malik, though, sealed the decider 6-3 to stay alive in the competition.

Eighth seed Dalwinder Singh of Punjab had an easy first round outing, as he beat Delhi’s Jatin Dahiya 6-3 6-2.

Chennai lad Dhakshineswar Suresh upset seventh seed Jayesh Pungliya of Maharashtra 6-3 6-2 in the opening round. The tall and lanky Suresh served with precision and returned consistently with depth and power to register a comfortable win over his rival.

Top seed Niki K Poonacha of Andhra Pradesh quelled the mid-match fight-back of Delhi’s Yugal Bansal to post a 6-0 4-6 6-4 win. Shivam Dalmia of Delhi edged out PC Vignesh of Andhra Pradesh in a third set tie break to move into the next round. 

Punjab’s Paramveer Singh Bajwa lost 5-7 4-6 to Tamil Nadu’s Prithvi Sekhar, while Haryana’s Yuvraj Singh bowed to fifth seed VM Ranjeet. Yuvraj lost 0-6 1-6.

Haryana’s Jagmeet Singh also crashed in the opening round, losing 3-6 5-7 to second seed Suraj R Prabodh of Karnataka. — TNS/PTI