Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship: Tamil Nadu’s Abhinav Sanjeev produces big upset
Ranked 32 in India, Abhinav Sanjeev began the tournament on a scintillating note as he beat third seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal 6-1, 7-6 (5) in a two-set thriller with the second set going into a tiebreaker.
Abhinav Sanjeev produces big upset in 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu’s Abhinav Sanjeev produced a big upset in the first round, while Ranjeet VM also made a winning start on the opening day of the 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Monday.
Ranked 32 in India, Abhinav Sanjeev began the tournament on a scintillating note as he beat third seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal 6-1, 7-6 (5) in a two-set thriller with the second set going into a tiebreaker.
Sixth seed Ranjeet of Tamil Nadu stamped his authority in the match from the first game and defeated Tamil Nadu’s Oges Prakash 6-0, 6-2 in straight sets to move into the next round.
Meanwhile, top seeds and former national champions Vishnu Vardhan and Vaidehee Chaudhari made a winning start in their respective categories.
Multiple Asian Games medalist Vishnu (Telangana) had a rough start against Haryana’s Udit Kamboj in the first round but eventually won the contest 7-5, 6-1 in straight sets to advance in the tournament. The former Davis Cupper faced a tough challenge at the beginning of the match as Udit never allowed him to take a big lead in the opening set with his quick movement along the baseline and powerful forehands.
The score was level 5-5 when Vishnu utilised his experience and kept his cool to play accurate shots. The two-time national champion won the next two games to clinch the set and then took control of the following set from the start, registering a crucial win.
In the women’s singles category, the 2022 Fenesta National champion Vaidehee of Gujarat made a positive start against Saily Thakkar (Gujarat) in the first set and quickly took the lead before winning it by 6-2 with a phenomenal cross-court forehand.
The second set saw Saily fighting for every point in the beginning but Vaidehee soon took control and won it by 6-4 to reach the second round. In another women’s singles category match, Karnataka’s Soha Sadiq clinched an easy 6-0, 6-1 victory over Delhi’s Kashish Bhatia.