Walchand Cup: Nihalani scalps top seed

The biggest upset of the day was Mane’s defeat to little known Sabhyata Nihalani. Losing the first set 1-6 in a rather tame fashion,the top seed put up a fight in the second but fell short,losing it 7-5. Nihalani belied her unseeded status,putting out a display of aggressive and fearless tennis. Nihalani served powerfully and also moved Mane around the court in an intelligent manner. She was quick to the net and her powerful forehands that hit deep and into the corners seemed to cause Mane serious problems.

Following suit,another Maharashtra player and third seed Shivani Ingle went down in three sets to Rishika Ravi from Tamil Nadu. Ravi won 6-2,1-6,6-1. Apart from the second set,when Ingle seemed to have briefly found her bearings,Ravi was always in control.

In a battle of Maharashtra players,Mahek Jain toppled fourth seed Nida Kamal 6-0,6-3 and along with qualifier Ishita Parikh kept Maharashtra’s flag flying. Parikh downed Dakshata Pate 6-2,7-5.

In the boys’ singles,Gujarat’s Utsav Patel defeated second seed Raghav Jaisinghani 3-6,6-3,6-2. Maharashtra’s Dhruv Sunish registered another upset,outplaying seventh seed Amarnath Arora. Arvind Reddy of Andhra Pradesh,who was the toast of the tournament on day one,lost to Mayukh Rawat 1-6,2-6.