Fenesta Open National Tennis C’ship: Manish, Vaishnavi reach SFs

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu’s Manish Sureshkumar and top seed Vaishnavi Adkar of Maharashtra advanced into the semifinals of the ongoing 30th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship after registering impressive wins in their respective quarterfinal matches at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Complex in New Delhi.

On Thursday, Manish, a former champion, was made to work hard by Nitin Kumar Sinha of Railway Sports Promotion Board before prevailing 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 in a contest that lasted over three hours.

After losing the first set, the Tamil Nadu player found his rhythm to level the match and then held his nerve in a tense deciding set tiebreak to secure his spot in the last four, as per a press release.

In the women’s singles, Vaishnavi Adkar of Maharashtra showed her dominance as the top seed by defeating seventh seed Sahira Singh of Punjab 6-3, 6-1 in straight sets. The 2025 World University Games Bronze medalist broke Sahira’s serve at crucial moments in the first set and then raced through the second to seal her semifinal berth in commanding fashion.

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.

Later in the women’s singles, Soha Sadiq of Karnataka continued her fine run in the tournament with a straight-sets win over Haryana’s Aditi Rawat.

The fourth seed overcame multiple deuce battles to record a 6-3, 6-2 victory in one hour and 35 minutes to reach the semifinals.

In another men’s singles quarterfinals, fourth seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal produced a strong performance to oust seventh seed Ajay Malik of Haryana 6-1, 6-2 and advance to the last four.

Meanwhile, in the girls U-18 singles category, Snigdha Kanta of Karnataka upset no. 1 seed Diya Ramesh of Tamil Nadu 6-3, 6-3 in the girls’ quarterfinals, while sixth seed Hruthik Katakam of Telangana staged a fine comeback to beat seed 1, Mahalingam Kandhavel of Tamil Nadu, 1-6, 7-6, 6-1 in the boys’ U-18 quarterfinals.

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 Rs 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. (ANI)