Top seed Ishaque tumbles out

Clinching a double remained a distant dream for Ishaque Iqbal as the top seed went down fighting to local lad Pranav Suri in the quarter-finals of boys' Under-14 category in the ongoing Manav Mangal AITA Total Tennis Talent Series...

Clinching a double remained a distant dream for Ishaque Iqbal as the top seed went down fighting to local lad Pranav Suri in the quarter-finals of boys’ Under-14 category in the ongoing Manav Mangal AITA Total Tennis Talent Series,being played ay Manav Mangal Smart School on Wednesday. However,he entered the semi-finals in the boy’s Under-12 category.

Ishaque,who hails from West Bengal,failed to find his touch that had seen him register some fine victories in the previous matches as he succumbed to Pranav Suri of St John’s High School in straight sets by 5-4(9-7),4-1. The thrilling match lasted for about one hour. Ishaque gave a tough fight to Pranav in the first set but some unforced errors from him saw the Chandigarh lad Pranav win the set and book his place in the last four. Pranav will now face Chandigarh’s Srijan Uppal who got the better of third seed Dheeranush Bhatti of Chandigarh in a three well contested sets by 5-3,0-4,4-1.

Meanwhile,in another quarter-final match,second seed Sachin Kumar of Chandigarh outplayed Abhishek Verma of Punjab in straight sets by 4-0,4-2. He needed just 35 minutes to demolish his opponent and find his place in the semi-finals. Nishat Eqbal also booked his place in the last four after he registered a fine 4-1,2-4,4-1 victory over Mayak Yadav of Delhi.

In the boys’ Under-12 category,top seed Ishaque suffered a scare before cruising to a 2-4,5-4(1),4-1 win over Sahil Sehwag of Delhi. Dheeranush Bhatti,the second seed,ousted B.S. Anirudh of Karnatka in straight sets by 4-1,5-4(8-6) to reach the semis. Third seed Shrey Gupta of Haryana lost the first sets before winning the next two sets to secure a 1-4,4-1,4-0 win over Abhijeet Singh of Chandigarh. Fourth seed Param Pun blanked unseeded Anupam Lamba of Punjab by 4-0,4-1 after conceding just one game.

Meanwhile,in the girls’ Under-14 category,top seed Vanshika Sawhney of Chandigarh overwhelmed her opponent Mohini Singla from Punjab by 4-0,4-0 in just half an hour. Second seed Meenal Meharwal from Rajasthan snubbed Pooja Morya’s challenge in three sets by 3-5,4-2,4-2 in a match that lasted one hour. Varnika Thakur,the third seed from Punjab defeated Harsimran Kaur of Haryana in straight sets by 4-2,4-2. Unseeded Karishma Mehta of Chandigarh ousted Bhumika Sharma of Rajasthan in three sets by 2-4,4-1,4-0 to reach the last four.

In the girls’ Under-12 category,top seed Arushi Bhasin of Delhi booked her place in the semi-finals after scoring a facile 4-2,4-1 win over Soumya Saxena of Chandigarh.

Arushi will now face Shrishty Dhanda of Haryana who registered a morale-boosting 4-0,4-1 win over Rubani Ahluwalia of Chandigarh.

Results:

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Boys: U-14: Quarter-finals: Pranav Suri(CHD) bt Ishaque Eqbal(WB) 5-4(9-7),4-1; Srijan Uppal(CHD) bt Dheerannush Bhatti(CHD) 5-3,0-4,4-1; Nishat Eqbal(WB) bt Mayank Yadav(DEL) 4-1,2-4,4-1; Sachin Kumar(CHD) bt Abhishek Verma(PB) 4-0,4-2; Doubles: Quarter-finals: Dheeranush Bhatti/Sachin Kumar bt Andrew Pardeep/Pranav Suri 6-2; Shrey Gupta/ Param Pun bt Sunny Khandare/Nikunj Poddar 6-0; Surya Prasad/Anirudh B.S. bt Sahil Sehwag/Mayank Yadav 6-5(7-1); Nishat Eqbal/Ishaque Eqbal bt Jagtar Singh/Jotpal Singh 6-3; U-12: Quarter-finals: Ishaque Eqbal(WB) bt Sahil

Sehwag (DEL) 2-4,5-4(1),4-1,Shrey Gupta (HR) bt Abhijeet Singh(CHD) 1-4,4-1,4-0,Param Pun(CHD) bt Anupam Lamba(PB) 4-0,4-1,Dheeranush Bhatti(CHD) bt B.S.Anirudh (KAR) 4-1,5-4(8-6).

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