Tamil Nadu's Dheeraj reach finals of 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship qualifiers

NEW DELHI: Top seeds Dheeraj KS and Laxmi Dandu reached the finals of the qualifiers of the 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship in their respective categories at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Sunday.

Dheeraj of Tamil Nadu continued his winning run in the tournament and moved into the finals of the qualifiers after beating Maharashtra's Pranav Korade in a three-set thriller by 6-3, 3-6, [10-8]. The top seed began the match on a positive note and quickly took a two-game lead before winning the first set.

However, Pranav made a marvellous comeback in the second set and won it by 6-3 to force the contest into the third set which went into a tie-breaker. The Tamil Nadu player kept his cool and clinched the victory by 10-8 to move into the finals where he will face Yash Yadav of Madhya Pradesh.

Telangana's Laxmi began the second-round match of the women's singles category on top after getting a bye in the first round. She quickly took the lead in the first set with her sublime baseline play and then registered a 6-2, 6-0 victory in straight sets against Mahi Trivedi of Gujarat. She will now face Tamil Nadu's Vitula Velumani for a place in the main draw.

Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.