New Delhi: Qualifier Arjun Kadhe opened his main draw campaign on a strong note as he demolished Delhi’s Jatin Dahiya 6-1, 6-1 in the opening round of the Fenesta Open national tennis championship at the RK Khanna Stadium here on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad girl Y. Sai Dedeepya made the pre-quarterfinals of the girls under-18 event. In the second round, Dedeepya defeated Sonashe of Karnataka 6-1, 6-4. Dedeepya will now play Prerna Vichare of Maharashtra.
In the doubles, Sindhu Janagam of Telangana and M Arthi of Tamil Nadu entered the doubles quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Adirija Biswas & Aviska Gupta. Sindhu and her partner will now take on top seeds Sweta Rana (Delhi) & Sneha Devi Reddy (Tamil Nadu).
In another women’s match, second seed Sai Samhitha Chamarthi eased past Shreya Tatavarthy from Andhra Pradesh 6-4, 6-1.
“I played well and was aggressive in the first set. I could not break serve but played a good second set and am happy to have cleared the round,” a confident Sai Samitha said.
Local girl and six-time national champion Prerna Bhambri made full use of familiarity with conditions as she showed no mercy to Snehal Mane. The Delhi girl won 6-0, 6-1. In another match, Tanisha Kashyap prevailed over Shrishti Das 6-3, 6-0.
Arjun Kadhe, who spent a few years playing college tennis in the United States, has added variety to his game and played solid tennis, with the potent serve standing out.
“I started well and kept it simple. I have been focusing on fitness and that has helped me perform better. I am happy to have moved to the next round,”said Kadhe.
Tamil Nadu’s former champion Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash faced little resistance from Anirudh Chandrasekhar before winning 6-3, 6-1.
Other winners included Paramveer Singh Bajwa and Armaan Bhatia. Paramveer beat Yuvraj Singh 6-2, 6-4 and Armaan outwitted Abhishek Gaur 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.
Upcoming Nitin Kumar Sinha from Bengal outlasted P. Vignesh 1-6, 6-2, 6-1.
