Niki overcomes Fardeep to enter last eight

Defending champion Niki Poonacha grappled with qualifier Fardeep Qamar before winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the men’s pre-quarterfinals of the National hard court tennis championship at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Thursday.

Niki, who had beaten Fardeen’s brother Faisal in the first round, will take on eighth seed Prithvi Sekhar in the quarterfinals.

Former Asian junior champion Nitin Kumar Sinha beat sixth seed Suraj Prabodh for the loss of four games to set up a quarterfinal against fourth seed Paras Dahiya.

Digvijay Pratap Singh sustained his good work, after having beaten fifth seed Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam in the first round, to set up a quarterfinal against top seed Arjun Kadhe.

Akanksha stretched

In the women’s event, eighth seed Akanksha Nitture had to be at her best in beating qualifier Renne Singla in three sets. She will face top seed Vaidehi Chaudhari in the quarterfinals.

Sai Samhitha will face Prerna Bhambri who had beaten her in the final on way to one of her four National titles. Prerna was stretched to three sets by Rishika Sunkara, who had won a double crown at the same venue last week.

Second seed Shrivalli Bhamidipaty was as ruthless Vaidehi in reaching the last eight.

The results (pre-quarterfinals):

Men: Arjun Kadhe bt Chirag Duhan 6-2, 6-4; Digvijay Pratap Singh bt Vivek Gautam 6-2, 6-3; Ishaque Eqbal bt Chandril Sood 6-0, 6-2; Kaza Vinayak Sharma w.o. Kunal Anand; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Suraj Prabodh 6-1, 6-3; Paras Dahiya bt Muthu Aadhitiya Selvakumar 6-2, 7-6(5); Prithvi Sekhar bt Lohith Bathrinath 6-2, 6-4; Niki Poonacha bt Fardeen Qamar 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Women: Vaidehi Chaudhari bt Sai Dedeepya 6-1, 6-0; Akanksha Nitture bt Renne Singla 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2; Yubarani Banerjee bt Sravya Shivani 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; Arthi Muniyan bt Bela Tamhankar 6-0, 6-3; Sai Samhitha bt Reshma Maruri 6-2, 6-1; Prerna Bhambri bt Rishika Sunkara 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Soha Sadiq bt Smriti Bhasin 7-6(4), 6-2; Shrivalli Bhamidipaty bt Shreya Tatavarthy 6-1, 6-0.