Fenesta hard court tennis championships: Vishnu Vardhan, Sharmada Balu qualify for main draw

NEW DELHI: Former champion Vishnu Vardhan and Sharmada Balu recorded easy wins over their respective opponents to qualify for the men's and women's singles main draws of the Fenesta national hard court tennis championships, here on Sunday.

Vishnu foiled the bid of talented Ajay Malik 6-2 6-1 while Sharmada Balu beat Kiran Kalkal 6-1 6-2 in her match. "It was a good match, I am very happy with the way I played. I think in the last three matches, this is the best I have played. Court 1 is my favourite here at the DLTA. I am indeed happy to be playing the Fenesta Open again, in the main draw," said Vishnu.

Also making it to the men's singles main draw were Parikshit Somnani and big-hitting Siddharth Vishwakarma. Parikshit outplayed Jagmeet Singh 6-3, 6-2 while Lucknow's Siddharth got the better of Lohith Aksha Bathrinath 6-2 6-4 .

Vishwakarma said he was taking it step by step. "It was a good game. I was a bit nervous as I started playing after a long time," he said. In other final round qualifying matches, Shruti Ahlawat beat Anjali Rathi 6-2, 6-1 while Sudipta Sen beat Ishwari Anant 6-3, 6-0.

Farhat Aleen Qamar won 6-3 6-3 against Sonashe Bhatnagar while Sehfali Arora beat Radhika Yadav 6-4, 6-0. "I struggled a bit in the beginning but was able to pull through. Overall, I am happy with my wins over the last two days and am in the main draw," said Sharmada Balu.