National C’ship: Vishnu Vardhan posts win

Vardhan, the former national champion, outplays second seed Atharva Sharma 9-2 in the first qualifying round; Ritik Rana pips Aakash Ahlawat.

File Photo: Vishnu Vardhan (in picture) will play Ihsan Mahmood in the second qualifying round.

Former national champion Vishnu Vardhan outplayed second seed Atharva Sharma 9-2 in the first qualifying round of the men’s section in the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Saturday.

Vishnu is scheduled to play Ihsan Mahmood in the second qualifying round.

In another lively match, Ritik Rana pipped Aakash Ahlawat 9-8 (4) to set up a second round against top seed Lakshit Sood.

Fourth seed Abhishek Gaur beat Joseph Khuma 9-3 to set up a second round against the formidable Alex Solanki. B. R. Nikshep will have an interesting second round against Anvit Bendre, who beat Sivadeep Kosaraju 9-5.

In the women’s section, third seed Salsa Aher will play Reshma Maruri in the second round after a bye in the first. Fourth seed Sonashe Bhatnagar is likely to have an equally interesting second round against Jagmeet Kaur. Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidipaty warmed up with a 9-2 win over Ishwari Matere, and will play seventh seed Adrija Biswas.

Win for Rhythm

In the U-18 boys event, Rhythm Malhotra outplayed fourth seed Ashish Bawra 9-0. Harsh Raghav beat sixth seed Amit Dahiya 9-7, while Ananth Muni accounted for seventh seed Tushar Mittal 9-3.

In the girls event, Niharika Deshmukh fought her way past Sweta Rana 9-8 (6) while Aarti Jain had an equally engrossing 9-8 (5) win over Drishti Jain.