Nitin Sinha upsets Vishnu Vardhan in straight sets at Fenesta Open

Rooting for his maiden men’s singles title at the Fenesta Open, youngster Nitin Sinha beat experienced Vishnu Vardhan at the National Hard Courts Tennis Championships in New Delhi on Tuesday. Top seeds of both men’s and women’s singles advanced to the second round. While qualifier Vishnu served strong, Nitin returned the serves well throughout the game to come out a 6-4, 6-0 winner at the DLTA complex.

“I wanted to make as many returns as possible and enjoy the match. I felt good on the court and I feel I have a chance to win title this year,” said Nitin to the PTI, who had lost in the semifinals last year.

In the battle of former champions, sixth seed Dalwinder Singh beat VM Ranjeet 7-6(4), 6-3. Dalwinder was very happy with his start and confidently looks forward to more wins in the tournament. Top seed Nikki Poonacha had to play solid tennis to get the better of Sai Karteek 7-5, 6-4.

“It was a great game and a good warm-up for the tournament. I aim to give my best in the coming matches,” said the 24-year-old Nikki.

Fifth seed Prajwal Dev beat Kavin Masilamani in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. In the women’s singles, the favourites rolled into the second round with top seed Sowjanya Bavisetti ousting Anusha with a convincing scoreline of 6-2, 6-1. Sowjanya said she found her game interesting and wants to focus on one game at a point going forward. Second seed Bhuvna Kalva had to fight hard to beat Sara Yadav 6-2, 7-5 while experienced Prerna Bhambri defeated Sudipta Sen 6-2, 6-3.

“Sudeepta played really well which made it even more interesting. I’m looking forward to giving my best tomorrow,” said Prerna, silver medalist at the 2016 South Asian Games.