Nitin Kumar Sinha played a fluent game to outwit former champion Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Tuesday.
It was an exhibition of superb athleticism and intense stroke play by Nitin, who had won the Asian junior championship in 2017.
Olympian Vishnu, who has been focusing on the doubles in the professional circuit, and had come through the qualifying event, did look solid till he missed three game points and dropped serve in the ninth game of the first set.
Nitin served out the set in style with an ace. In the second set, Nitin sustained the good flow and took a 2-0 lead, before Vishnu won a token game. Thereafter, Nitin dropped only four games in all in sealing victory. Nitin will next play Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam.
In a battle between two former champions, Dalwinder Singh prevailed 7-6(4), 6-3 against VM Ranjeet. Backed by the team from Harvest Academy in Jassowal, Dalwinder put his power game on display even though Ranjeet teased him with his court craft and judicious play.
Dalwinder will play Paras Dahiya in the pre-quarterfinals. Top seed Niki Poonacha, who trains at the Rohan Bopanna Academy in Bengaluru, had a good preparation for the rounds ahead in a high quality game against qualifier Sai Karteek Ganta, before he prevailed 7-5, 6-4.
Davis Cupper Vijayant Malik tamed Yugal Bansal in the second set tie-break, and will challenge third seed Ishaque Eqbal.
Qualifier Chandril Sood stretched his stay by beating Dhruv Sunish, who later needed to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, as he suffered a bout of cramps.
In the women’s event, four-time champion Prerna Bhambri cruised past Sudipta Senthilkumar, and will play Arthi Muniyan.
In the under-18 boys event, Madhwin Kamath survived six match points to beat Drona Walia 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) in four hours and five minutes, in the second round. He will play Ananth Muni in the pre-quarterfinals. Muni had an equally engrossing 6-1, 6-7(2) 7-5 win over Nitin Jaipal Singh.
Rohan Mehra was in robust form as he outplayed top seed and the national junior champion Dev Javia for the loss of four games. He will play Aryaan Bhatia in the next round.
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