Fernandes pulls off stunning win

MUMBAI, Oct 26: Unfancied Gavryl Fernandes provided a sensational start to the Birla Mutual Fund All-India Tennis Association National Ra...

MUMBAI, Oct 26: Unfancied Gavryl Fernandes provided a sensational start to the Birla Mutual Fund All-India Tennis Association National Ranking sub junior and mini junior tennis championships at the Practennis Courts today.He knocked out top seed Parantap Chaturvedi of Delhi 6-3, 6-4 in the boys u-16 first round today.

Gavryl played an attacking game and gained the initiative with a break in the fourth game. He dropped serve in the fifth, he broke again in the eighth and took the first set at 6-3.

The class 10th Student of Raj Hans Vidyalaya was in command in the second with breaks in the third and seventh games. However, he committed a double fault on match point in the eighth before settling the issue in the 10th.The opening day of the Rs 62,500 event saw two more upsets in the boys under-14 group.

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Karan Rastogi eliminated fifth seeded Vijay Murli of Delhi 6-4, 6-4 while Chandigarh’s Chatwinder Singh edged Andhra Pradesh’s Anand Kumar, seeded sixth, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Rastogi, an ex-Practennis player nowtrains at the Britannia Amritraj Tennis (BAT) school in Chennai.

As many as 110 players from all over the country competed for eight places in the main draw of the boys under-14 and 16. The following came through the girls’ qualifying: Under-14: M Aseldini, Anuja Parikh, Manasi Modi, K Soumya, Kartik Bhat, M Sunita, Lizanka Perreira, Ronak Shah.

U-16: Deepa Charavarty, Anuja Parikh, Krushmi Chaddha, Anisha Shelar, Ronak Shah, Nupur Desai, Shradha Lodha, M Aseldini.

In the Sil State Ranking event running concurrently at the same venue, Jairaj Desai won on tie-breaker against Pranav Gandhi 9-8 (7-1) in the boys u-10 event.

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Vivek Menon won a long drawn under-12 encounter against Arnav Jain 9-4, several games being settled on deuce.

Police personnel seen to control the situation during a massive protest over the statehood demand and the inclusion of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule, in Leh on Wednesday. (ANI Video Grab)

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