At his prime, Vijay Kannan had defused the big-serving Rohan Bopanna with his smart game to win the national title.
Even at 36, Vijay showed off a thing or two about staying sharp on his toes and taking an opponent out of his comfort zone with his fine sense of court geometry, as he stopped the young Yugal Bansal with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory in the pre-quarterfinals of the National grass court tennis championship at the Chandigarh Club on Wednesday.
In another lively marathon that lasted over three hours and 40 minutes, Suraj Prabodh tamed the gutsy Saurav Sukul for a 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 win. Sukul was cramping towards the closing stages of the third set, but managed to play his best till the very end.
In the quarterfinals, Suraj, who persists with a single hand backhand, will play Tejas Chaukulkar while top seed Dalwinder Singh will be challenged by Param Pun.
Former national champion and second seed V.M. Ranjeet will be up against Shahbaaz Khan.
In the women’s section, the top three seeds, Riya Bhatia, Sai Samhitha and Nidhi Chilumula, looked a cut above the rest while fourth seed Samriti Punyani conceded a walkover to Aarushi Kakkar.
The results: Men: Second round: Dalwinder Singh bt Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-2, 6-2; Param Pun bt Abhimansu Borthakur 6-4, 6-4; Vijay Kannan bt Yugal Bansal 4-6, 6-0, 6-4; Jatin Dhaiya bt Sathiyaraj Ravishankar 6-3, 6-2; Tejas Chaukulkar bt Ranjeet Singh 6-4, 6-3; Suraj Prabodh bt Saurav Sukul 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5; Shahbaaz Khan bt Faisal Qamar 6-4, 6-1; V.M. Ranjeet bt Jaydeep Chudasama 6-1, 6-2. Doubles quarterfinals: Vilasier Khate & Ranjeet Singh bt Krishna Teja Ankam & Ajay Pruthvi 6-4, 6-4; Param Pun & Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Mohit Bhardwaj & Nihit Rawal 7-5, 6-3; Armaan Bhatia & Ishaque Eqbal bt Sivadeep Kosaraju & Sathiyaraj Ravishankar 4-6, 6-0, [10-6].
Women: Second round: Riya Bhatia bt Jitasha Shastri 6-0, 6-0; Sara Yaav bt Yubrani Banerjee 6-4, 6-4; Aarushi Kakkar w/o Samriti Punyani; Seerat Kaur Pannu bt Neeru Rapria 6-4, 7-5; Himani Mor bt Prakriti Banwani 6-1, 6-1; Nidhi Chilumula bt Amrita Mukherjee 6-2, 6-1; Kaavya Sawhney bt Arthi Muniyan 7-6(2), 6-4; Sai Samhitha bt Vasavi Ganesan 6-2, 6-3. Doubles quarterfinals: Nidhi Chilumula & Moulika Ram bt Harleen Kaur & Himanshika 6-0, 6-1; Yubrani Banerjee & Neeru Rapria bt Anupreet Bedi & Priyanka Rodricks 6-0, 6-3; Sai Samhitha & Amrita Mukherjee bt Aarushi Kakkar & Kaavya Sawhney 6-2, 6-3 .
