Nikki Poonacha storms into semifinal

Nikki was quite strong with his serves and complemented his game with some brilliant forehand strokes.

Nikki Poonacha in action in the AITA 2.5 lakh prize money tournament at the K.G. Ramesh Tennis Academy in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

Sixth seed Nikki Poonacha of the host State scored a facile 6-1, 6-2 win over fourth seed Nitten Kirrtane of Maharashtra in a men's singles quarterfinal clash of the AITA 2.5 lakh prize money tournament for Prof. Gomatinayagam Memorial Trophy at the K.G. Ramesh Tennis Academy here on Wednesday. Nikki was quite strong with his serves and, with some brilliant forehand coming into the play, he managed to break Nitten thrice to clinch the first set 6-1. However, the latter held his serve twice in the second set but Nikki gathered pace midway through to break his opponent twice as well to take the set 6-2 and the match. Earlier, eighth seed H.S  Sandhu of Punjab rallied from a set down to defeat second seed Suraj Prabodh of Karnataka 6-7 (2), 6-0, 6-2. The results (quarterfinals, all TN unless specified)Men: H.S. Sandhu (Pjb) bt Suraj Prabodh (Kar) 6-7 (2), 6-0, 6-2; Nikki K. Poonacha bt Nitten Kirrtane (Mah) 6-1, 6-2; Dalwinder Singh (Pjb) bt Shaikh Abdullah (TS) 6-1, 6-1;Faisal Qamar (Raj) bt Kaza Vinayak Sharma (AP). Women: Shweta C. Rana (Del) bt Vanshita Pathania (Kar) 6-4, 6-1; Shreya Tatavarthy (AP) bt Nidhi Surapaneni (AP) 6-1, 6-3; Shaikh Humera (TS) bt Advaita Saravanan (TN) 6-1, 6-1; Harsha Sai Challa (AP) bt Swetha Sree Hari (TN) 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles

Men: Sivadeep Kosaraju (AP) & Rishi Reddy (Kar) bt D.U.P Chengappa (Kar) 7-6 (5) 6-4; Ominder Baisoya (Har) & D. Pagalavan (TN) bt Suraj R Prabodh (KA) & H.S. Sandhu (Pjb) 2-6, 7-6 (1), 10-6; Taha Kapadia (TS) & Parikshit Somani (AS) bt Yash Yadav (MP) & Kunal Vazirani  (Mah) 6-2, 6-4; Nikki K Poonacha (TN) & Gokul Suresh bt Shaikh Abdullah (TS) & Armaan Bhatia (Mah) 7-5, 2-6, 10-8. Women: Moulika B Ram (AP) & Nidhi Surapaneni (AP) bt Adrija Biswas (WB) & Shrishti Daas (Mah) 6-1, 6-3; Aarthi Muniyan (TN) & Sara Yadav (MP) bt Ishwari Anant Matere (Mah) & Shreya Tatavarthy (AP) 6-3, 7-5; Harsha Sai Challa (AP) & Himanni Mor (Har) bt Shivani Manjanna (Kar) & S. Soha (KA) 6-3, 6-3.