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Vighnesh puts out Vikas

By Our Sports Reporter

CHENNAI AUG. 21. V. Vighnesh's style of play is simple and uncomplicated. He plays within himself and knows pretty well when to go in for the kill. Against his Statemate and fifth-seeded P. Vikas of Andhra Pradesh, qualifier Vighnesh showed no signs of pressure as he raced to a 6-2, 6-1 victory to enter the boys' under-18 quarterfinals in the first leg of the adidas-AITA junior tennis championship at Krishnan Tennis Centre, Kottivakkam, here on Wednesday.

The 17 year-old Engineering student of Osmania University, who missed most of 2002 preparing for twelfth exams, did not miss much against Vikas today. Only once in the second set, he did drop his serve when he was leading 4-0.

``I passed him whenever he came to the net. In going for his shots, he (Vikas) made too many mistakes,'' said Vighnesh. ``All I require is sufficient AITA points to play directly in the main draw in the forthcoming events.''

Vighnesh will next take on third-seeded Rupesh Roy of Kolkata, who prevailed over Mumbai's Aditya Madkekar 6-4, 7-6 (7- 5). Aditya, finalist in the MCC-TNTA National junior championship, was leading 4-2 in the first set, and was up 6-5 in the second set tiebreaker, but lost his way with some uncharacteristic shots.

Bangalore's G. Arjun, who had a fine run in the National championship here reaching the semifinals, lost to top seed Chatwinder Singh of Chandigarh 6-7 (4-7), 1-6.

Lucky loser Siddharth Gulati continued his good run with a 6-1, 7-5 win over L.S. Anantha Baskar of Tamil Nadu. In a battle between two lads from Chennai, a fast improving Ranjeet outplayed Vikram Aditya Menon 6-0, 6-3.

In a first round contest which resumed today after being stopped midway due to rain on Tuesday, local lad Vijay Sundar Prasanth went down fighting to Saurabh Kohli of Maharashtra, the second seed, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. Later, Saurabh drubbed Samrit Ghosh of Kolkata 6-0, 6-0, to earn a quarterfinal clash with V.M. Ranjeet.

Nivedita Venkatesh got the better of fourth seeded Sharanya Pattabi 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round of the girls' under-18 section, in what was another major upset of the day. Alice Joy fought past the fifth seed Preeti Rao 7-5, 1-6, 6-2.

Top seed M. Jeevan started his campaign on an impressive note with an authoritative 6-1, 6-0 win over Akshay Bajoria of Kolkata in the boys' under-14 section. Jeevan got a bye in the first round.

The results (second round): Boys (under-18): 1-Chatwinder Singh (Chd) bt G. Arjun (Kar) 7-6 (7- 4), 6-1; 3-Rupesh Roy (WB) bt Aditya Madkekar (Mah) 6-4, 7-6 (7- 5); Siddharth Gulati (Del) bt L.S. Anantha Baskar (TN) 6-1, 7-5; 4-M.V. Abhay Prakash (Kar) bt S. Prateek (Kar) 6-2, 6-1; V. Vighnesh (AP) bt P. Vikas (AP) 6-2, 6-1; 7-V.M. Ranjeet (TN) bt Vikram Aditya Menon (TN) 6-0, 6-3; 2-Saurabh Kohli (Mah) bt Samrit Ghosh (WB) 6-0, 6-0; Inder Kumar Mahajan (MP) bt Jitin Bishnoi (Chd) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

Under-14: 1-M. Jeevan (TN) bt Akshay Bajoria (WB) 6-1, 6-0; 8-Keegan Quadros (Mah) bt Zen Laliwala (Mah) 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3; 3-Siddharth Alapati (AP) bt Ankit Goswami (Del) 6-2, 6-2; J. Shravan Kumar (TN) bt V.S. Srihari (AP) 6-0, 6-1; 4-R.K. Praveen (Kar) bt Karan Uday Singh (Chd) 6-1, 6-2; 7-K.H. Praveen (AP) bt Sujit Sachidananda (Kar) 6-2, 6-0; 2-Tejesvi Rao (Mah) bt G.P. Prajnesh (TN) 6-4, 6-1; 5-Nithyesh Nataraj (TN) bt Koushik Das (Asm) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Girls (under-18): Alice Joy (TN) bt 5-Preeti Rao (TN) 7-5, 1-6, 6-2; Nivedita Venkatesh (TN) bt 4-Sharanya Pattabi (TN) 5-7, 6-2, 7-5; K. Pooja (AP) bt Oormila Ram (AP) 6-2, 6-2; 3-Lata Assudani (Mah) bt S. Marutha Devi (TN) 6-3, 6-1; M. Kamini (TN) bt Parul Goswami (Del) 7-5, 6-3; 2-Sandra Sashidaran (Ker) bt Madura Ranganathan (TN) 6-3, 6-0; 1-Poonam Reddy (AP) bt E. Asmitha (TN) 6-3, 6-4.

Under-14: 1-Sandri Gangotri (AP) bt Pooja Shree (Kar) 6-2, 6-2; 8-L. Kanimozhi (TN) bt Unnati Purushotham (AP) 6-3, 6-3; 3- Madura Ranganathan (TN) bt Grace Hannah (TN) 6-1, 6-1; E. Asmitha (TN) bt Karina Ahuja (WB) 6-3, 7-5; 5-Gayatri Krishnan (TN) bt A. Amita (SL) 6-2, 6-1; 4-G.K. Swetha (Kar) bt P.V. Rajarajeswari (AP) 6-3, 6-0; 7-Sanjana Kapur (Del) bt Shalini Sahu (Del) 6-2, 6-1; 2-D. Tejeswini (AP) bt Akshita B. Raj (Del) 6-2, 6-4.

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