New Delhi, 2nd October, 2018: Siddharth Rawat from Uttar Pradesh needed to dig deep into his reserves before outsmarting Kaza V Sharma from Andhra Pradesh 6-4, 7-5 in the men’s singles first round of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship on Tuesday.
First round matches can be a bit dicey, more so when you are playing in a big tournament after a long time. Siddharth was shaky but used his cool temperament to advance into the second round.
“It was definitely a tricky match. Kaza is a good friend of mine and deserves to be top seed but his ranking has dropped so we played in the early stage. I am glad I made it through,” said Siddharth.
Seasoned campaigner VM Ranjeet showed he still has gas left in him as he moved past PrithviS in straight sets on a warm and sunny day at the DLTA complex. Former National champion MohitMayur beat last year’s U-16 National Champion Dakshineshwar Suresh 6-3,6-2.
In under-18 boys section 2nd round, top seed Siddhant Bhantia defeated Delhi’s Rohan Mehra 6-2, 6-3. Siddhant faced little trouble in executing a regulation win in the junior section.
“To play against last year’s runner-up was not easy. I came into the match with self-belief. I think the biggest factor in today’s match was my serve, I remember not giving him one point on my serve in the first three games. I was consistent and persistent,” said Siddhant.
HumeraShaik the fifth seed in Women’s Singles had a scare as she had to fight her way against Pratibha P. Narayan 7-6 (6),0-6,6-3. In the Girls U18 second round she had an easy win against ChavviRathi 6-1,6-0.After her Women’s Singles match she said, “The match was not tough but I made it tough and I played well. It was my second singles today. Overall feel great and looking forward to rest of the matches.”
Sixth seed RamyaNatrajan after moving from qualifying draw into the main draw first round of women’s singles beat statemate PrathyushaRachap (TN) 6-3,6-1 while Muskan Gupta from Delhi ousted Mihika Yadav 6-3,6-1.
Delhi’s Shweta Rana beat AyushiTanwar from Rajasthan 6-1, 6-4 in the women’s singles first round. Shweta was in good touch and summed up her win by saying: “Today’s match was good for me. I think I played sharp and my opponent was a junior. The Fenesta Open is a nice platform and I feel confident when I am here.”
