Muskan Gupta outwits Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty
Muskan Gupta counter punched smartly to subdue Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 7-6(6), 7-6(5) in the girls quarterfinals of the ITF grade-4 junior tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.
There was no taking the credit away from Muskan, who does have an all-round game and runs down every ball, but the 16-year-old Shrivalli with an impressive big game was running a fever which had resulted in her conceding the doubles earlier.
At the crunch, Shrivalli was unable to put her big serves to good use and thus failed to serve out the second set in the twelfth game. What was commendable in Shrivalli was her positive attitude to go for her shots at all times without getting trapped in a defensive approach.
In the semifinals, Muskan will face Eric Richardson of Britain who wriggled past the clutches of the fighting Sandeepti Singh Rao in straight sets.
Top seed Shivani Amineni blanked Evelina Kontareva of Russia to set up a semifinal against Pimrada Jattavapornvanit of Thailand.
In the boys section, top seed Sacchitt Sharma was in vibrant for in outplaying Lnacelot Carnello of Sweden and will face Ryuhei Azuma of Japan, who brought an end to the fine run of Arthav Neema.
Bikramjeet Singh Chawla struggled with his serve through the match but fought in a three-setter against Roman Faucon of Belgium. The tall second seed Kasidit Samrej of Thailand continued to bulldoze his way into the semifinals, by overwhelming Jack Pinnington Jones of Britain.
The results:
Boys (quarterfinals): Sacchitt Sharma bt Lancelot Carnello (Swe) 6-2, 6-2; Ryuhei Azuma (Jpn) bt Arthav Neema 7-6(2), 6-3; Romain Faucon (Bel) bt Bikramjeet Singh Chawla (US) 6-1, 5-7, 6-1; Kasidit Samrej (Tha) bt Jack Pinnington Jones (GBR) 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles (semifinals): Ryuhei Azuma (Jpn) & Natthayut NIthithananont (Tha) bt Romain Faucon (Bel) & Jack Pinnington Jones (GBR) 6-4, 6-4; Lancelot Carnello (Swe) & Darrshan Suresh (Mas) bt Tarush Bagai & Arnav Pathange 7-5, 7-5.
Girls (quarterfinals): Shivani Amineni bt Evelina Kontareva (Rus) 6-0, 6-0; Pimrada Jattavapornvanit (Tha) bt Bhakti Shah 6-0, 6-2; Muskan Gupta bt Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty 7-6(6), 7-6(5); Eric Richardson (GBR) bt Sandeepti Singh Rao 6-3, 7-5.
Doubles (semifinals): Salsa Aher & Kaavya Sawhney bt Pimrada Jattavapornvanit & Lanlana Tararudee (Tha) 3-6, 6-3, [10-1]; Evelina Kontareva (Rus) & Erin Richardson (GBR) bt Gargi Pawar & Raina Zaffar 6-2, 6-1.
