Unseeded Siddhant Banthia made best use of the home court conditions as he toppled sixth-seeded Rian Pundole 6-3 7-5 in the opening round of the BIPL Sports- MSLTA ITF Junior tennis Championships at the MSLTA School of Tennis in Mhalunge-Balewadi today.
Sixteen year old Banthia, who reached the semi-finals of the event last year, won the opening set comfortably. He then broke Pundole in the 11th game of the second set and held his serve to create the first upset of the event.
In other first round action, Anurag Nenwani scored a credible 7-5 6-0 win to oust Georgian David Chelidze in the opening round while top-seeded Lithuanian, Robert Wrzesinski, defeated Dev Javia 4-6 6-2 6-0.
Another Georgian, Irakali Metreveli, also struggled before overcoming Abhimanyu Vannemreddy 5-7 6-2 6-2, while British fourth seed Finn Bass overcame a fighting Vikrant Dahiya 4-6 6-2 6-1.
In other close matches in the boys' section, Rishi Reddy scraped past Shrey Gupta 3-6 6-4 7-6 (6) in the toughest match of the day , while Param Pun ended the challenge of qualifier Piyush Salekar 3-6 6-3 6-2.
In the girls' section, Sravya Shivani Chilakalpudi edged out Priyana Kalita 6-1 3-6 6-1, while Shivani Ingle outplayed Aesha Patel of USA 7-5 6-1 to enter the second round.
Top-seeded Georgina Axon of Britain, sixth seed Kristina Novak of Slovakia, Sing-Le Fan Chiang of Taipei and seventh-seeded Milana Lysova of Kazakhstan also moved into round two without much trouble.
Boys (1st round): Vashisht Cheruku(Ind) bt Kaivalya Kalamse(Ind)6-1 6-0; Siddhant Bantia (Ind) bt Rian Pandole (Ind, 6) 6-3 7-5; Charles Roberts (Tha) bt Sagar Bains (Ind) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3; Kabir Manrai(Ind) bt Udit Yadav (Ind) 6-1 6-2; Anurag Nenwani(Ind) bt David Chelidze (Geo) 7-5 6-0; Robert Wrzesinski (LTU) bt Dev Javia (Ind) 4-6 6-2 6-0; Rishi Reddy (Ind) bt Shrey Gupta (Ind) 3-6 6-4 7-6(6); Param Pun (Ind) bt Piyush Salekar (Ind) 3-6 6-3 6-2; Alex Solanki (Ind, 7) bt Gaurang Gaurang (Ind) 7-5 6-2; Irakali Metreveli (Geo) bt Abhimanyu Vannem Reddy (Ind) 5-7 6-2 6-2; Sanil Jagtiani (Ind) bt Christian Cummings (Ind) 6-1 6-0; Finn Bass (GBR, 4) bt Vikrant Dahiya (Ind) 4-6 6-2 6-1.
