Chandigarh Academy for Rural Tennis (CHART) trainee and unseeded Shashikant Rajput caused the biggest upset of the day defeating fourth seed Ashutosh Tiwari in three sets to enter boys’ under-16 semifinals in the AITA Championship Series tennis tournament being played at Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) complex in Sector 10 on Wednesday.
Shashikant lost the first set 3-6 and was trailing 1-3 in the second set before making a comeback and winning the next two sets 7-5, 6-4.
Top seed Calvin Golmei ended the challenge of seventh seed Sahishnu Sharma 6-4, 6-4, while third seed Sagar Sehrawat defeated fifth seed Sohraab Singh 6-3, 6-2, to book berths in the last four. In the last quarterfinal match, second seed Sabrang Sandal defeated CHART trainee Bhupender Dahiya 6-1, 6-2, to enter semifinals.
In the boys’ under-12 quarterfinals, top seed Dhruv Tangri dropped just three games on his way to defeat fifth seed Udit Gogoi 6-1, 6-2, while second seed Nishant Dabas defeated Ajay Singh 6-1, 6-2. Third seed Srijit Singh also had an easy outing as he defeated eighth seed Sarabjot Singh 6-1, 6-4.
Fifth seed Krishan Hooda, a CHART trainee, however, had to fight hard to defeat sixth seed Aman Dahiya in three sets. Krishan won the first set 6-3, but Aman bounced back to win the second set 6-4. In the third and the final set, Krishan won 6-1 to enter semifinals.
{{/usCountry}}Fifth seed Krishan Hooda, a CHART trainee, however, had to fight hard to defeat sixth seed Aman Dahiya in three sets. Krishan won the first set 6-3, but Aman bounced back to win the second set 6-4. In the third and the final set, Krishan won 6-1 to enter semifinals.
{{/usCountry}}The girls’ under-12 singles quarterfinals were one-sided affair apart from second seed Nimrat Kaur Atwal who was stretched before winning against Kanupriya Rajwat in three sets. Nimrat lost the first set 4-6 but bounced back to win the next two 6-3, 6-0.
In the other matches, top seed Tanushitha Reddy defeated sixth seed Inayat Sandhu 6-1, 6-1, while eighth seed Amreen Sidhu outplayed fourth seed Aaditaa Vashisht 6-3, 6-3.
Third seed Charitha Patlolla defeated fifth seed Adi Singh 6-3, 6-1, to complete the semifinals line-up.
In girls’ under-16, CHART trainees Priyanka Jakhar and Simran Pritam moved into semifinals. Priyanka defeated Harleen Kaur 6-3, 7-5, while unseeded Simran ousted sixth seed Saisha Khanna in three sets. Simran won 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
In another match Alisha Menon defeated third seed Himanshika 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Top seed Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa outclassed fifth seed Tanya Batra 6-0, 6-3 in the last match to enter semifinals.