National Tennis C'ship: Manish, Keerthivassan, Vaishnavi & Akanksha enter final

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) The semifinals of the 30th National Tennis Championship produced contrasting contests as Manish Sureshkumar and Keerthivassan Suresh advanced to the men’s singles final, while Vaishnavi Adkar and Akanksha Nitture set up an enthralling final showdown in the women’s singles category at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi.

Tamil Nadu’s Manish Sureshkumar recovered from a slow beginning to overcome fourth seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal 1-6, 6-1, 6-1. Eqbal dictated the early rallies, breaking serve twice to sweep the first set. Manish adjusted quickly, taking control of the baseline exchanges. Once he broke early in the second set, the momentum shifted entirely in his favor, and he closed out the match with two near-identical sets of 6-1.

Meanwhile, Keerthivassan Suresh prevailed in a marathon against Madwin Kamath, winning 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4 after four hours and ten minutes. The opening set went to a tie-break, where Keerthivassan’s consistency from the back of the court proved decisive.

Kamath responded strongly in the second, breaking serve early and holding firm to level the contest. The decider remained tight until Keerthivassan secured the crucial break at 4-4, after which he held serve to seal the victory.

Supported by DCM Shriram Ltd., and held under the aegis of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA), the Fenesta Open is India’s largest domestic tennis championship, drawing top contenders from across the country.

In the women’s singles, top seed Vaishnavi Adkar of Maharashtra was in ruthless form as she dismissed fourth seed Soha Sadiq of Karnataka 6-1, 6-0. Vaishnavi broke serve at the first opportunity and allowed her opponent only a single game in the entire contest. She dictated from the baseline, moved Soha around the court, and closed out the match in exactly one hour.

Second seed Akanksha Nitture completed the line-up for the women’s final with a come-from-behind 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win over Jennifer Luikham of Manipur. Jennifer started brightly, capitalising on errors to take the opening set, but Akanksha steadied herself with stronger serving and deeper returns. She took control midway through the second set and never let up, running away with the decider 6-1.

In the U-18 category, seventh seed Snigdha Kanta of Karnataka defeated her home-state native Shreeniti Chowdhury 7-6, 6-0 in the girls’ singles semifinal, while fourth seed Tavish Pawa of Haryana got the better of fifth seed Gandharv Gourav of Karnataka 6-2, 6-2 in the boys’ singles semifinal.

Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.

The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category qualifying and main draw matches will be played from October 5 to October 11.

--IANS

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