Girls top seeds crash Xtra Premium Tennis Championship

Mumbai, May 18: Girls under-16 top seed M Divija of Andhra Pradesh and under-14 number one Garima Vatwani of Delhi today crashed out of the Xtra Premium National Series Tennis Championship being played here.

On the fourth successive day of surprise verdicts, unseeded Soniyaa Daayal of Maharashtra kicked off another day of upsets when she shocked Divija 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in an exciting pre-quarter-final tie.

In contrast, wild card Jenai Billimoria of Maharashtra rallied from 1-3 in the opening set to shock Vatwani 6-3, 6-1 to ease into the quarter-finals.

Unseeded Billimoria enjoyed a rewarding day when she also advanced to the under-16 semi-finals after beating compatriot Rasika Sankpal 6-4, 6-2. She endured a scare after leading 4-1 in the first set before earning a crucial break in the ninth game.

Earlier in the pre-quarter-finals, Billimoria fashioned an impressive 7-5, 6-2 win over unseeded Sharmada Balu of Karnataka.

Results: Boys U-16 (QF): Gaurav Walia (Mah) bt Sagar Ahuja (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Karun Uday Singh (Del) bt Shantanu Rajput (Del) 7-5, 6-0; 7-Ankit Sachdeva (Del) bt 4-Lakshit Sood (UP) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1; Debendra Das (Mah) bt 8-Sameer Patwardhan (Mah) 6-3, 6-1.

Boys U-14 (QF): 7-Shahbaz Khan (Mah) bt Ryoto Tachi (Mah) 6-3, 6-4; 3-Mohit Mayur (TN) bt Siddharth Rawat (UP) 7-6 (4), 6-1; 4-S.V. Abhishek (AP) bt 9-Tushal Thawani (Mah) 6-4, 6-0; 8-Chetan Pandit (AP) bt Paladugu Saiteja (AP) 6-2, 6-1.

Girls U-16 (QF): Jenai Billimoria (Mah) bt Rasika Sankpal (Mah) 6-4, 6-2.

PQF: Soniyaa Daayal (Mah) bt 1-M. Divija (AP) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2; 7-Gopika Kapoor (Del) bt Rashika Sunkara (Del) 6-1, 6-2; Rasika Sankpal (Mah) bt 4-T. Nilaya (AP) 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4; Jenai Billimoria (Mah) bt Sharmada Balu (Kar) 7-5, 6-2; Tanvi Shah (Mah) bt Dipti Srivastava (WB) 6-2, 6-1; 3-Garima Vatwani (Del) bt Bhavana Suresh (AP) 6-2, 6-3; 8-Nimisha Mohan (Kar) bt Nupur Kaul (Mah) 6-2, 6-3; 2-Prachi Nadkarni (Mah) bt Sharon Paul (TN) 6-3, 6-1.

U-14 (PQF): Jenai Billimoria (Mah) bt 1-Garima Vatwani (Del) 6-3, 6-1; Nupur Kaul (Mah) bt Bhavana Suresh (AP) 6-3, 6-2; 3-Gopika Kapoor (Del) bt Madhuri Patere (Mah) 6-1, 6-2; 7-Ankita Raina (Guj) bt Sharmada Balu (Kar) 6-4, 6-2; 9-Ratnika Batra (Del) bt 5-Shweta Rana (Del) 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-0; 4-Rashika Sunkara (Del) bt Arushi Sharma (Del) 6-4, 6-4; 8-Nova Patel (Guj) bt Vaniya Dhagwal (Guj) 6-0, 6-2.

UNI