Mehul enters semis

PUNE, Feb 24: Mehul Kenia is a player to watch out for. Hailing from a place like Kolhapur where tennis is yet to blossom and facilities ...

PUNE, Feb 24: Mehul Kenia is a player to watch out for. Hailing from a place like Kolhapur where tennis is yet to blossom and facilities are far less easily accessible than in the metro cities, Mehul, however, is leading a new generation of tennis.

Stepping into the sport just over a year ago, the New Model English School student has become an unavoidable threat to his counterparts on the under-12 circuit. The recent past is testimony of his impressive run in the State ranking meets as he belted three titles, downing all the big names that are currently participating in the ongoing Hero-Honda Masters junior tennis tournament, at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana courts.

Mehul, after his first round upset win over No. 4 Ayush Wadhawan on the inaugural day, today once again exhibited his prowess, downing the curtains for unseeded Siddarth Chedda of Mumbai 7-5, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. He now meets top seed Keshavan Narsimhan, who was one of his victims for the Nashik State meet title.

Another boy who stole the limelight in the same section was Mumbai lad Alon Moses. The seventh standard student of Learners Academy, Bandra, avenged his Kolhapur State ranking quarter-final defeat last season, as he upstaged citymate and second seed C. Akshay 6-4, 6-1.

Joining Alon in the list of upset winners for the day was unseeded Bhushan Sardesai of Sangli who brought down the challenge of another second seeded players 8212; Kaushal Mahale of Mumbai 9-2 in the boys under-10 quarters.

Results Prefix denotes seedings
All quarter-finals
Boys u-10: Tejas Chaukulkar Pune bt Gaurav Ganpule Pune 9-3; 4. Hryday Cheddha Mumbai bt Akash Gujrathi Pune 9-6; Bhushan Sardesai Sangli bt 2. Kaushal Mahale Mumbai 9-2.
Boys u-12: 1. Keshavan Narsimhan Mumbai bt Krishank Shah Mumbai 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Mehul Kenia Kolhapur bt Siddarth Chedda Mumbai 7-5, 6-3; 3. Gautam Samarth Pune bt Rohan Shevakumaran Mumbai 6-2, 6-1; Alon Moses Mumbai bt 2. C. Akshay Mumbai 6-4, 6-1.
Boys u-14: 1. Vikrant Sane Pune bt Rishi Behl Mumbai 6-3, 6-0; 2. Ankit Doshi Mumbai bt Rushang Patel Mumbai 6-1, 6-1; 3. Shashank Kulkarni Pune bt Dhananjay Kawade Pune 6-1, 6-1; 2 Rohan Gajjar Mumbai bt Siddharth Patil Pune 6-2, 6-1.
Boys u-16: Siddarth Desai Pune bt Shwetyej Raste Pune 6-2, 6-3; 3. Aniket Joglekar Pune bt Aniruddha Kulkarni Pune 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Boys u-18: 1. Kedar Shah Pune bt Neil Mundra Pune 6-0, 6-1; 3. Abhijit Muzumdar Mumbai bt Nikhil Sarin Pune 6-2, 6-2; Jai Aurora bt 4. Hrishikesh Mone Pune 6-1, 6-4.

Girls u-10: Moneeza Siddiqui Mumbai bt Neerja Hingane Pune 9-1; Panja Maloo Khamgaon bt Anu Bhagwat Mumbai 9-8 8-6; Roshini Luthra Mumbai bt Sonia Patwardhan Pune 9-2; Nikita Atal Pune bt Sayali Patak Pune 9-8 7-2.
Girls u-12: Nidhi Shah Mumbai bt Sagarika Phadke Mumbai 6-2, 6-0; Ronak Shah Mumbai bt Sagarika Pandke Mumbai 6-0, 6-0; Tulshi Metha Mumbai bt Aishwarya Jadhav Kolhapur 6-2, 6-1.