Ajay rallies into pre-quarters

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 17 

Haryana’s Ajay Singh upset second seed Shashikant Rajput in a rain interrupted match to book a berth in the boys’ U-18 pre-quarterfinals in the ongoing CLTA-AITA Championship Series (CS-7) Tennis Tournament at the CLTA Complex, Sector 10, here, on Tuesday.    

Resuming the third set at 1-1 after the rain had stopped play on Monday, Ajay overcame Rajput 6-4 to stay alive in the competition.  

Earlier, Ajay had lost the opening set 2-6, but came back strongly to restore the parity with a 6-2 win in the second set. 

Third seed Naresh Badgujar of Haryana, meanwhile, rallied from a set down to overcome local lad Abhay Mohan in the first round. Badgujar lost the first set 3-6 but came back strongly to win the next two sets 6-0 6-3 to advance to the last-16 stage of the championship.

Chandigarh’s Sarthak Gandhi overcame a resilient Harmanjot Singh of Punjab 7-6(4) 4-6 6-2, while qualifier Dhananjay Singh from Himachal Pradesh stunned Punjab’s Samar Bir Singh Sidhu 7-6(2) 6-4. Vipul Pratap Singh registered a 6-4 2-6 6-4 win over Yash Baghel. 

Seventh seed Parveen Kumar of Chandigarh kept his calm to beat Punjab’s Navya Verma 6-0 6-1 and Delhi’s Amaan Mohammad Siddiqui humbled Punjab’s Harmajot Singh Minhas 6-1 6-2 in the opening round.

Sukhpreet blanks Keshav  

Top seed Sukhpreet Singh Jhoje of Punjab blanked Chandigarh’s Keshav Dangi 6-0 6-0 to enter boys’ U-14 pre-quarterfinals. 

Second seed Arhaan Pahwa humbled Delhi’s Vansh Kamra 6-3 6-1, while third seed Navya Verma of Punjab drubbed Shraey Vir 6-1 6-0. Fourth seed Aryan Thakur dismissed Hridya Pandey 6-0 6-0.

Uttar Pradesh’s Abdullah Shakir registered a 6-2 6-2 win over Hardik Khanduja, while Chandigarh’s Parth Mehra downed city counterpart Satvik Singla 6-1 6-2. Eighth seed Pranay Sharma edged past Yash Solanki 6-1 6-0 in the opening round.

West Bengal’s Kesav Goel drubbed Damanpreet Singh 6-0 6-0. Seventh seed Arush Sharma beat Yashsvi Balhara 7-5 7-6(5), while Punjab’s Harjot Singh packed off Uttar Pradesh’s Arnav Malik 6-2 6-4.