Pungaliya, Palha make it to last 4

Panchgani: Unseeded Kunal Vazirani and sixth seed Avishka Gupta upset seeds to enter the last four of the Men’s and the women’s singles event at the MSLTA Hotel Ravine All India Ranking mens & womens tennis tournament organised by Ravine Hotel Panchgani at their tennis courts.

In the women’s singles section CYG seeded Avishka Gupta of Delhi  upset  West Bengals fourth seeded Yubrani Banerjee 4-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-4 to enter the semifinal.

In the men’s quarter finals state player Kunal Vazirani  made it to the last four in a dramatic manner as his opponent second seeded Paramveer Bajwa conceded the match after trailing 6-3, 3-0

The performer of the day certainly was 21-year old Jayesh Pungaliya, who produced a fluent performance to brush aside fourth seeded Anurag Nenwani in just over 30 minutes.

Such was Pungaliya’s hold over the match that he broke little sweat in the first set, which he won 6-3. Nenwani, to his credit woke up in the second set and things were neck and neck, until Pungaliya broke his opponent in the 11th game to surge with the advantage. He then duly held his service to make it to the semi-final stage.

Top seeds Faisal Qamar of Rajasthan and Natasha Palha of Goa continued their progress into the semi finals with two set wins.
In women’s section, top seed Natasha Palha lived up to her billing with a routine 6-1, 7-5 win over Anusha Kondaveeti.

Anusha offered little resistance in the first set, with just a game to show against her name, but made a telling comeback in the second set, where she made the top seed  work for all her points.

Sixth seed Avishka Gupta too, made the headlines as she crashed fourth favourite Yubani Baerjee’s title run with a come-from behind 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 win. Such was Avishka’s recovery, that at one point she down match-point in the second set, but she held her nerve and made the most of her opponent’s unforced errors in the next 2 sets to advance to the semi-final.

Results: Singles:
Mens: quarterfinal Round:
1-Faisal Qamarbt Fardeen Qumar 6-3, 6-3; 4-Jayesh Pungaliya bt 8-Anurag Nenwani 6-3, 7-5; 3-Ishaque Eqbal bt Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-2, 6-3; Kunal Vazirani bt 2-Paramveer Bajwa(2) 6-3, 3-0 conceded.

Womens: 1-Natasha  Palha bt Anusha Kondaveeti 6-1, 7-5; 3-Nithyaraj Baburaj bt 7-Saumya Vig 6-4, 6-1; 6-Avishka Gupta bt 4-Yubrani Banerjee 4-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-4; 2-Humera Shaikh bt Salsa Aher 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles: Quarterfinals Mens:
Rohan Bhatia/Armaan Bhatia bt S.Ravi Shankar/Rithvik Anand 6-2, 6-3; Nikit Reddy/Rishi Reddy bt Nitin Gunduboina/Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-4, 6-2; Jayesh Pungliya/Kunal Vazirani bt Ansu Kumar Bhuyan/Chinmay Pradhan 6-4, 6-3; Faisal Qamar/Fardeen Qumar w/o Anurag Nenwani/Paramveer Bajwa.

Womens: Humera Shaikh/Salsa Aher bt Yubrani Banerjee/Natasha Palha 7-6(7-5), 6-3; Apoorv SB/Avishka Gupta bt Vaishali Thakur/Amisha Patel 6-3, 6-1; Akanksha Nitture/Kosami Sinha bt Mahrukh Kokni/Sharmeen Rizvi 6-0, 6-2; Nithyaraj Baburaj/Saumya Vig bt Sheetal Shetty/Swarda Parab 6-1, 6-4.