Vikrant Dahiya (Haryana) scored a hard-fought 7-6(6), 7-6(6) win over fifth seed Jagmeet Singh (Haryana) and entered the men’s singles semifinals of Proserve AITA 50K National ranking tennis tournament at the Perks Tennis Centre here on Wednesday.
Even as Dahiya was busy finding ways to knock out the fifth seed, sixth seed Sivadeep Kosaraju (Telangana) kept belting winners from the other end against third seed Siddharth Ponnala. It was a tough task at the start for Sivadeep but, he staged a brilliant fightback to defeat Siddharth 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3 for a place in the last four.
Top seed Anshukumar Bhuyan (Odisha), the title winner last week, had to work hard as well. He slipped a bit midway through before winning over Ominder Baisoya (Haryana) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. The former did not move around the court much but still managed to take the first set 6-0.
It looked a straight set drubbing for Baisoya but he bounced back to clinch the second 6-3. Three double faults in a row cost the top seed dearly. He lost the fifth game and later the set. In the decider, Bhuyan was at his best. He broke Baisoya similarly in the fifth game and held on to his own serves to wrap up the set and match 6-3.
The results (quarterfinals): Singles: Anshukumar Bhuyan (Odi) bt Ominder Baisoya (Har) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Sivadeep Kosaraju (TS) bt Siddharth Ponnala (TS) 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3; Rithvik Anand (TN) bt Prashanth Selvaraj (TN) 5-7, 7-5, 6-1; Vikrant Dahiya (Har) bt Jagmeet Singh (Har) 7-6(6), 7-6(6).
Doubles: Anshukumar Bhuyan & Siddharth Ponnala bt Hursh Pandole & Darshan Srinivasa 6-1, 6-2; Nawaz Syed Abrar & Rohan Bhatia bt Anirudha & Gowtham 7-5, 6-1; Rithvik Anand & Ihsaan Husain bt Mithun Murali & Bharat Nishok 6-1, 3-6, 11-9.
