AITA tennis: Pune’s Bendre to face second seed Anand in final

Bendre also made it to the doubles finals with city lad Rohan Bhatia the scratch pair scraped past the pair of Shashank Theertha Macherla and Gunjan Jadhav 4-6, 6-2, 12-10

Pune’s Anvit Bendre will clash with second-seeded Kunal Anand of Delhi in the men’s finals of Rs 3 lakhs AITA men’s and women’s open tennis championships at Poona Club tennis courts on Saturday.

Pune’s Anvit Bendre in action at AITA men’s and women’s open tennis ongoing at Poona Club on Friday.(SHANKAR NARAYAN/HT PHOTO)

In the men’s event, Bendre scored a facile 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) win over Suresh Dakshineshwar of Tamil Nadu, while second-seeded Anand was lucky enough to scrape past a fighting Dhruv Sunish of Mumbai winning 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) in a one-hour 50-minute thriller.

Bendre also made it to the doubles finals with city lad Rohan Bhatia the scratch pair scraped past the pair of Shashank Theertha Macherla and Gunjan Jadhav 4-6, 6-2, 12-10.

In the finals, they will take on second-seeded Parikshit Somani and Suresh Dakshineshwar who halted fourth-seeded Armaan Bhatia and Ishaque Eqbal 6-2, 7-5.

In the women’s event, seventh-seeded Nidhi Chilumula of Telangana upset top-seeded Vaidehi Chaudari of Gujarat 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, while fourth-seeded Soha Sadiq of AP upset second-seeded Nithyaraj Baburaj of Tamil Nadu 6-3, 6-2 to make it to the finals.

In the doubles semifinals, Humera Shaikh along with Sara Yadav beat Sai Revanur and Arthi Muniyan 6-3, 6-4 to make it to the women’s finals, they will take on Sravya Chilakalapudi and Vaidehi Chaudhari who defeated Anusha Kondaveeti and Sai Dedeepya 6-1, 6-1.

Results: (Semi-finals)

Mens: q-Anvit Bendre (Mah) bt Suresh Dakshineshwar (TN) 6-2, 7-6 (10-8); 2-Kunal Anand (Del) bt 3-Dhruv Sunish (Mah) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

Doubles: 3-Anvit Bendre (Mah) and Rohan Bhatia bt Shashank Theertha Macherla (Tel) and Gunjan Jadhav (Mah) 4-6, 6-2, 12-10; 2-Parikshit Somani and Suresh Dakshineshwar bt 4-Armaan Bhatia (Mah) and Ishaque Eqbal (WB) 6-2, 7-5.

Womens: 7-Nidhi Chilumula (Tel) bt 1-Vaidehi Chaudari (Guj) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4; 4-Soha Sadiq (AP) bt 2-Nithyaraj Baburaj (TN) bt 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (Semifinals): Humera Shaikh (Tel) and Sara Yadav (MP) bt Sai Revanur (Tel) and Arthi Muniyan (TN) 6-3, 6-4; Sravya Chilakalapudi (Tel) and Vaidehi Chaudhari (Guj) bt Anusha Kondaveeti (Tel) and Sai Dedeepya (Tel) 6-1, 6-1.