Humera a win away from national glory

​New Delhi: Vishnu Vardhan continued to rock and roll as he ended the fluent run of KunalAnand in the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship. The former Davis Cupper and Asian Games medalist demolished Kunal 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals. In Saturday’s title clash he will take on S Vishwakarma, who did not have to stretch much while defeating BavaHaadin 6-3, 6-3 in the second semi-final.

There was plenty of excitement for top seed Riya Bhatia in the women’s singles as she fought tooth and nail on the dusty hard court against the more seasoned Sharrmadaa Balu before booking a slot in the finals after a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5) win Riya next runs into EeteeMaheta who beat Hyderabad teenager PranjaliYadlapalli 6-4, 6-3.

In the junior section, DhruvSunish beat Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-4,6-4 and will meet Nitin, who scalped Sakshineshwar Suresh 6-2,6-0 The girls final will be contested by AkanshaBhan and Humera Shaik. The former prevailed over Lalitha Devarakonda 6-2,6-1 while Humera beat-city-mate Y Sai Dedeepya 4-6,6-3,6-2.

Results: Semifinals-Men singles: Vishnu Vardhan (1) bt KunalAnand6-3, 6-1; S Vishwakarma bt Hadin Bava 6-3, 6-3; Women singles: Eetee Maheta (6) bt PranjalaYadlapalli 6-4, 6-3; Riya Bhatia bt Sharrmadaa Balu 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/5); Under-18 Boys: Dhruv Sunish (2) bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-4, 6-4; Nitin Kumar Sinha (3) bt Dhakshineswar Suresh 6-2, 6-0; Girls: Akanksha Bhan (3) bt Lalita Devarakonda (5) 6-2,6-1; Humera Shaik bt Y Sai Depeepya 4-6,6-3,6-2; All Finals-Men’s Doubles: KunalAnand/Anvit Bendre bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa/Param Pun 7-5, 6-4; Women’s Doubles: Sowjanya Bavisetti/Rishika Sunkara bt Shweta Rana/Eetee Maheta 4-6,6-1,10-7; Under-18 Boys doubles: BR Nikshep/Nitin K Sinha bt Dhruv Sunish/Ishaque Iqbal 6-4, 6-3; Girls doubles: Sravya Shivani/Tanisha Kashyap bt Sabhyata Nihalani/Yubrani Banerjee 6-1, 7-6(5).