Top seed Vaishnavi, Prajwal make winning starts at Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship

New Delhi [India], September 29 (ANI): Top seed Vaishnavi Adkar and Karnataka's SD Prajwal Dev made winning starts in their respective categories on the opening day of the 30th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) Complex in New Delhi on Monday.
Playing in the women's singles category, Maharashtra's Vaishnavi dominated her first-round match from the get-go and registered a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 victory over Mirudhula Palanivel of Tamil Nadu to move into the next round of the tournament. Meanwhile, second seed Prajwal defeated Delhi's Sarthak Suden 6-2, 6-1 in the first round of the men's singles category, as per a press release.
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, the release said.
Vaishnavi displayed tremendous baseline play from the first game, quickly taking a 4-0 lead in the set. Mirudhula won the fifth game and then broke the top seed's serve to keep her hopes alive. However, the Maharashtra player refused to let a comeback happen and clinched the set by winning the next two games.
The second set saw a close battle as the scores were tied 3-3 at one point before Vaishnavi broke Mirudhula's serve and then won the set to reach the second round. On the other hand, Prajwal made easy work of his opponent, as the Delhi player had no answer to his powerful forehands in the first set. Sarthak won the first game of the following set but could not stop the momentum of the second seed, as Prajwal notched the next six games in a row to clinch victory.
Odisha's Debasis Sahoo made an upset in the men's singles category as he beat fifth seed Parth Aggarwal 7-5, 6-0 in a thrilling clash. The opening set saw a topsy-turvy battle with Parth taking a 5-3 lead before the 39th-ranked player clinched the four straight games to take the advantage in the match.
Debasis broke no sweat in the second set and registered a commanding win to reach the next round.
Meanwhile, Punjab's Sahira Singh also won her first-round match in the women's singles category as she defeated Sonicka Jadeesh 6-4, 6-0 in straight sets. Sahira faced a tough challenge in the opening set, as the Karnataka player levelled the score at 2-2 after losing the first two games. The seventh seed then used her precision to unsettle her opponent, taking a 4-2 lead and eventually winning the set.
The second set saw a total domination with Sahira blanking her opponent to reach the second round.
Tamil Nadu's Manish Sureshkumar also made a winning start to the tournament in the men's singles category, defeating Amrutjay Mohanty of Odisha 6-3, 6-1 in straight sets. The former champion looked in great touch from the start and delivered strong forehands to take the first set.
Manish performed even better in the second set as he lost only one game to move forward in the tournament.
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)