Chandigarh, January 4: THE top two seeds in the boys' singles were toppled in the quarter-final matches in the ongoing ITF Junior (Grade 3) Tennis Tournament at the CLTA Stadium in Sector 10 here today. Chennai-based and eighth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament as he posted an impressive straight sets 6-2, 6-3 victory over top seed Rifat Biktyakov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinal encounter. Meanwhile, wild card Yuki Bhambri stunned second seed Aswin Vijayragavan in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
The final quarterfinal match played at Court Number 3 witnessed third seed Alexey Tikhonov of Russia in action against sixth seed Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Both served well, returned with power and executed their strokes deep. But Alexey Tikhonov of Russia eventually registered a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in 98-minute.
Alexey will now clash with giantkiller Yuki Bhambri for a place in the finals. Earlier, Prajnesh Gunneswaran played to a plan against top seed Rifat Biktyakov. I made Rifat commit mistakes as he was always hitting hard.
I played a consistent game throughout the match, said Prajnesh who broke his opponent twice in the second and 8th games to win the first set with ease. In the second set, Prajnesh again broke his opponent in the 8th game to emerge winner taking the set 6-3. Delhi-based wild card entrant Yuki Bhambri took 97 minutes to defeat second seeded Aswin Vijayragavan 6-3, 6-4.
Playing with confidence, Yuki Bhambri broke his opponent in the sixth game to win the first set. In the second set, Yuki broke him in the third and fifth games for a 6-4 win. Meanwhile, Vijayant Malik proved too good for Akash Gujrathi.
He had the psychological advantage over Akash having beaten him in the semi-final recently in the ITF Juniors (Grade IV) Tournament in Gurgaon. Playing well, Vijayant broke his opponent in the second and fourth games of the first set and first and fifth games in the second to storm into the semi-final. Meanwhile, in the girls' singles, Poojashree Venkatesh kept the Indians' hopes alive.
The 11th seed ousted another Indian, the13th seed Aadnya Naik in straight sets 6-2, 6-1. Her opponent in the semi-final will be fourth seed Jessy Rompies of Indonesia who also had a smooth passage into the last four stage at the expense of seventh seed Nigora Sirojiddinova of Uzbekistan 6-1-61. In another quarterfinal match, sixth seed Aleksandra Koleshnichenk of Uzbekistan ended the challenge of 14 th seed Bhavani Trimurthi in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.
Meanwhile, third seed Yana Kireeva (Russia) and eighth seed Beatri Gumulya (Indonesia) played a thrilling match in the fourth quarterfinal. Down by one set, Yana rallied splendidly to win 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0. Doubles (quarter-finals): Alexey Tikhonov (Uzb) and Rifat Biktyakov (Rus) bt Harshvardhan Thirani and Sushanth Nambir (India) 6-2, 6-2, Toshiya Suzuki (Japan) and Vijayant Malik (India) bt Navinder Pal Singh Sidhu (India) and Jerzy Janowikz (Pol) 7-6 (5), 6-1, Akash Gujrathi and Prejnesh Gunneswaran (India) bt Ankit Sachdeva and Pulkit Mishra (India) 7-6 (2), 6-1, Seo Jeong Han and Kim Jeo-Beom (Korea) bt Aswin Vijayragavan and Vikram Reddy (India) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles (quarter-finals): Janaki Gunaganti and Rashmi Teltumbde (India) bt Deepna Vazirani and Garmia Vatwani (India) 6-2, 6-2, Yana Kireeva (Russia) and Aleksandra Kolesnichenk (Uzb) 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, Olga Makhova and Nanuli Pipiya (Russia) bt Shivikza Burman and Vishaka Sheoran (India) 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3, Polina Dzyuba (Russia) and Beatrice Gumulya (Ina) bt Poojashree Nenkatesh (India) and Nigora Sirojiddinova (Uzb) 5-7, 7-6, 6-3.
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