Dalwinder in quarters, Ajay crashes out

Chandigarh, February 20 

Punjab’s Dalwinder Singh beat Shivam Dalmia of Delhi in straight sets to ease into the quarterfinals of the MCC-SR Subramaniam Memorial AITA Men’s Tennis Championship in Chennai on Wednesday. The eighth seed won 6-2 6-1.

Haryana’s Ajay Malik, however, crashed out after losing 1-6 4-6 to top seed Niki K Poonacha.  

Tamil Nadu’s Vignesh Veerabhadran, meanwhile, shocked second seed Suraj R Prabodh of Karnataka 7-6(1) 6-2 to book a place in the quarterfinals, where he will meet state-mate Dhakshineswar Suresh. 

Suresh came from behind to outlast Rishi Reddy of Karnataka 3-6 6-3 6-1.

Third seed Nitin Kumar Sinha of West Bengal overcame Rajasthan’s Faisal Qamar 7-6(5) 6-4 in the pre-quarters.

In the doubles quarters, Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Ihsan Hussian received a walkover against Nitin Kumar Sinha and Kaza Vinayak Sharma.

Jatin Dahiya and Dhakshineswar Suresh registered a 6-2 6-4 win over Prithvi Sekhar and PC Vignesh, while Aramaan Bhatia and Hardeep Singh humbled Himansu Mor and Eklavya Singh 6-3 6-3. TNS/PTI