Tennis Nationals: Tejas Chaukulkar knocks out Mohit Mayur

It was a breakthrough performance for the 26-year-old Tejas, as he had lost thrice to Mohit in the ITF circuit, including recently in a tough three-setter in the Futures event in Chennai.

Mohit Mayur was no match for Tejas Chaukulkar as he succumbed to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Tejas Chaukulkar asserted his all-round game with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over former champion and second seed Mohit Mayur in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship, at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday. It was a breakthrough performance for the 26-year-old Tejas, as he had lost thrice to Mohit in the ITF circuit, including recently in a tough three-setter in the Futures event in Chennai.

Tejas will challenge the wiry seventh seed Siddharth Vishwakarma in the quarterfinal. The other quarterfinals will feature top seed Vishnu Vardhan against Dalwinder Singh, V. M. Ranjeet against Kunal Anand, and Jayesh Pungliya versus Haadin Bava. Both Ranjeet and Anand had to sweat it out in three sets each against talented youngsters Sai Saran Reddy and Faisal Qamar respectively.

In the women’s section, Mihika Yadav, who survived two match points to beat top seed Dhruthi Venugopal in the rain-interrupted first round earlier in the morning, cruised into the quarterfinal. Dhruthi was upset with a line call by the chair umpire on match point, and to Mihika’s credit she handled the tie-break in the decider competently on the centre court, for a 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(3) victory. Mihika will next face Eetee Maheta. Jennifer Luikham put out last year’s runner-up Sai Samhitha in a long drawn battle to set up a quarterfinal against the former Asian champion and fourth seed Pranjala Yadlapalli.

Riya Bhatia recovered from a bad start in the first set of the first round to storm into the quarterfinal, and will face Nidhi Chilumula. Sharrmadaa Baluu handled the spirited challenge of Shweta Rana with intense concentration and explosive strokes for a hard earned 7-6(5), 6-4 victory. It was an anti-climax for the former finalist Shweta after the Railway employee had blown away the second seed Rishika Sunkara for the loss of one game earlier in the day.

Interestingly, Sharrmadaa had lost twice to Shweta in as many meetings in the professional circuit, but had the resolve to find her way forward for a quarterfinal against Vaidehi Chaudhari. The 16-year-old Vaidehi Chaudhari, who trains with coach Jignesh Raval, and who had fruitful training sessions with former World No.1 Thomas Muster during the Champions Tennis League (CTL), won two matches in three sets each against seventh seed Sowjanya Bavisetti and Himani Mor. Both lasted more than three hours each.

However, in the girls section, Vaidehi was beaten in straight sets in the third round by Tanisha Kashyap who had made it to the UK under-14 tennis championship in London, by performing well in the Road to Wimbledon competition.

The results:

Men (pre-quarterfinals): Vishnu Vardhan bt Paramveer Singh Bajwa 6-4, 6-3; Dalwinder Singh bt Ansu Bhuyan 6-3, 6-3; VM Ranjeet bt Sai Saran Reddy 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-5; Kunal Anand bt Faisal Qamar 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2; Jayesh Pungliya bt Irfan Hussain 6-2, 6-1; Haadin Bava bt Abhinav Snajiv 6-3, 7-5; Siddharth Vishwakarma bt Suresh Dakshineshwar 6-3, 6-1; Tejas Chaukulkar bt Mohit Mayur 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Women (pre-quarterfinals): Mihika Yadav bt Prathiba Narayan 6-0, 6-2; Eetee Maheta bt Neeru Rapria 6-0, 6-1; Pranjala Yadlapalli bt Aarushi Kakkar 6-1, 6-1; Jennifer luikham bt Sai Samhitha 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3; Nidhi Chilumula bt Harsha Sai Challa 6-2, 6-2; Riya Bhatia bt Samriti Punyani 6-2, 6-1; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Himani Mor 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3; Sharrmadaa Baluu bt Shweta Rana 7-6(5), 6-4.

First round: Mihika Yadav bt Dhruthi Venugopal 7-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(3); Nidhi Chilumula bt Saumya Vig 6-1, 6-0; Riya Bhatia bt Pareen Shivekar 4-6, 6-0, 6-0; Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Himani Mor bt Sai Dedeepya 6-3, 7-5; Shweta Rana bt Rishika Sunkara 6-0, 6-1.

Under-18 boys (pre-quarterfinals): BR Nikshep bt Rian Pandole 6-3, 6-2; Suresh Dakshineshwar bt Alex Solanki 6-4, 6-1; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Ishaque Eqbal 6-0, 6-0; Abhinav Sanjiv bt Mritunjay Badola 6-2, 6-0; Paramveer Singh Bajwa bt Rishabh Sharda 6-4, 6-2; Sanket Tomar bt Yugal Bansal 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; Param Pun bt Oges Theyjo 6-3, 6-4; Dhruv Sunish bt Muthu Aadhitiya Senthilkumar 6-1, 6-1.

Under-18 girls: Urmi Pandya bt Rashmikaa Shrivalli 6-3, 6-1; Lalita Devarakonda bt Lasya Patnaik 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Akanksha Bhan bt Shivani Sravya 6-4, 6-0; Jennifer Luikham bt Harsha Sai Challa 6-4, 6-4; Sahaja Yamalapalli bt Aarja Chakraborty 6-1, 6-3; Humera Shaik bt Yubrani Banerjee 6-2, 6-2; Sai Dedeepya bt Vasavi Ganesan 6-3, 6-3;

Tanisha Kashyap bt Vaidehi Chaudhari 7-5, 6-3.