Humera stuns 2nd seed Samhitha

Mumbai : Sixteen-year-old sixth seed Humera Shaikh of Telangana produced a standout performance to record a stunning straight sets quarter-final win against second seed Sai Samhitha of Tamil Nadu in a women’s singles quarter-finals match, of the AITA Ranking Rs 22 lakh prize-money JVPG Anirudh Desai All-India Open Tennis Tournament 2018, at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana’s tennis courts on Friday.

The Telangana teenager Humera, India No. 7 ranked, played with great determination and confidently against the ninth ranked and 23-year-old Sai, and romped to a 6-5, 7-5 win to advance to the semi-finals.

Meanwhile another teenager, 16-year-old and top seed Mahak Jain of Madhya Pradesh had things much her own way as she eased to a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory against eighth seed Nidhi Chilumula of Telagana with a degree of comfort.

Fourth seed Nithyaraj Baburaj, India ranked 14th, powered her way past unseeded Dedeepya Sai of Telangana winning in straight sets, at 6-0, 6-3 to set up a clash with Jain in the semi-finals.

Mihika Yadav continued with her fine run of winning form as she defeated Bhuvana Kalva by a 6-3, 7-5 scoreline to complete the semi-final line-up.

In the only completed men’s singles quarter-final match, third seed Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu recovered well after losing a close opening set to overcome unseeded Prajwal Dev of Karnataka 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-0 to move into the semi-final.

Top seed Arjun Kadhe of Maharashtra suffered a back injury and conceded his match to seventh seed Siddharth Vishwakarma of Chandigarh after trailing 4-5 in the first set.

Meanwhile, second seed Dalwinder Singh, did not report for his match against Peranamallur Vignesh of Andhra Pradesh.

Kunal Anand of Delhi was also lucky to advance to the last four after Maharashtra’s Jayesh Pungliya injured his wrist and forfeited his match after leading 4-1 in the first set.

Results (Women’s singles (2nd round): 1-Mihika Yadav (MH) bt Bhuvana Kalva (TS) 6-3, 7-5; 1-Mahak Jain (MP) bt 8-Nidhi Chilumula (TS) 6-1, 6-2; 4-Nithyaraj Baburaj (TN) bt Dedeepya Sai (TS) 6-0, 6-3; 6-Humera Shaikh (TS) bt 2-Sai Samhitha (TN) 6-4, 7-5.

Men’s singles (2nd round): 3-Manish Sureshkumar (TN) bt Prajwal Dev (KA) 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-0; 7-Siddharth Vishwakarma (CG) bt Arjun Kadhe (MH) 5-4 (conceded); 4-Kunal Anand (DL) bt Jayesh Pungliya (MH) 1-4 (conceded); Prenamallur Vignesh (AP) w/o 2-Dalwinder Singh (PB).