Vishnu, Vaidehee enter quarterfinals of 28th National Tennis

NEW DELHI: Olympian Vishnu Vardhan and defending champion Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujarat reached the quarterfinals of the 28th National Tennis Championship in their respective categories, at the DLTA Complex, here on Wednesday.

The two-time champion from Telangana showed his attacking prowess from the get-go against Odisha's Kabir Hans in the men's singles category and registered a 6-4, 7-6 victory in straight sets to move into the last eight of the tournament.

Vaidehee Chaudhari also looked in complete control of her match from the beginning and played impeccable forehands with precision to unsettle Sai Janvi T of Karnataka. She then won the match by 6-4, 6-3 to progress further in the 28th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2023.

The women's singles category also saw an upset as Sejal Bhutada of Maharashtra beat fifth seed Sharmada Balu (Karnataka) 6-4, 6-2 in straight sets. However, Karnataka's Lakshmi P. Arunkumar won her match to move into the last-eight as she defeated Kashish Bhatia of Delhi 6-4, 6-3 under immense heat that took the players to their limits.

Earlier, the defending champion in the men's singles category, Manish Sureshkumar moved one step closer to winning another title as he defeated Sheikh Md. Akhtar (Karnataka) 6-1, 6-1 in straight sets.

Meanwhile, the 2018 champion Siddharth Vishwakarma displayed ferocious shots against Suraj Prabodh (Karnataka) to continue his winning run. Motivated by the constant chants of coach Ratan Sharma, the Uttar Pradesh lad used his left-hand cross-court forehands to full advantage and won the match by 7-5, 6-1.

Tamil Nadu's Abhinav Sanjeev S also reached the quarterfinals after defeating Ganta Sai Karteek Reddy 7-5, 7-5 in straight sets.

In the boys’ under-18 category, Tamil Nadu's Keerthi Vassan Suresh upset top-seed Chandan Shivaraj (Karnataka) 6-2, 6-3, while No. 1 seed in the girls' under-18 Sonal Patil defeated Harshini N to reach the quarterfinals.