Aayush defeats top seed Chirag, makes it to semis

Chandigarh, January 13

Seventh seed USA’s Aayush P Bhat won a neck-and-neck fight against top Indian contender Chirag Duhan to march ahead in the boys’ U-18 semi-finals during the ongoing ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors (Grade-2) Tournament at the CLTA Complex in Sector 10 here.

Bhat registered a (7-6(3), 7-6(6)) win over his top seed rival. Qualifier Bushan Haobam also recorded a stunning (6-4, 6-4) victory over Korean Woohyuk Chang, while French contender Lucas Phanthala logged a comeback (3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5) win over Daksh Ashok Agarwal. Manas Dhamne defeated Fadi Bidan of Lebanon (6-3, 7-5).

In girls’ U-18 quarterfinal, Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee stunned top seed Shruti Ahlawat in straight sets (6-2, 6-1). Seventh seed Vaishnavi Adkar defeated Lakshmi Gowda (6-2, 6-1), Russia’s Vlada Mincheva ousted fourth seed Suhihta Maruri (6-1, 6-2) and second seed Iran’s Safi outplayed eighth seed S Sirimalla (6-4, 6-2).

Dmitry-Ruslan in doubles semis

The Russian pair of Dmitry Dolzhenliv and Ruslan Tiukaev defeated Aman Dahiya and Chirag Duhan to confirm their boys’ U-18 doubles semis berth. Bidan and Thanaphat Boosarawongse defeated Manas Dhamne and Aryan Shah, Reiya Hattori and Phanthala defeated Daksh Ashok Agarwal and Yuvan Nandal and the team of Bhat and Rushil Khosla ousted Deep Munim and Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar.

In the girls’ doubles event, Shruti Ahlawat and Suhitha Maruri defeated Ramesh Janani and Sharvani Shrestha. Darja Suvirjonkova and Lanlana Tararudee also moved into semis by defeating Vlada Mincheva and Anya Murthy, while Victoria Milovanova and Darja Shadchneva ousted Saina Deshpande and Ruma Gaikaiwari. Vaishnavi Adkar and Rutuja Chaphalkar defeated Meshkatolzahra Safi and Sanjana Sirimalla in the last quarterfinal match. —