Siddhant Banthia and Mann Shah strengthen the field in Pune ITF juniors

He may gain nothing, except match exposure, but top seed Siddhant Banthia will provide a quality check for the boys field in the ITF grade-3 junior tennis tournament to be staged at the Deccan Gymkhana, Pune, from Monday.

As compared to the 18-year-old Banthia who is trying to graduate to the professional circuit and using every match to hone the quality of his game, the 17-year-old Mann Shah, seeded second will have everything to gain from the event.

Mann failed to assert himself as the top seed in the Australian Open wild card play-off in Zhuhai, and may try to find his through the hard way.

Sacchitt Sharma and Dev Javia will try to ensure an Indian domination in the boys event.

In the girls section, Shivani Amineni will try to follow up on her title in Delhi last week, and it will be up to the other two seeds Salsa Aher and Malikaa Marathe to gain valuable points from the event.

Shivani opens against Muskan Gupta who made the semifinals in Delhi. Shrivalli Rashmikaa Bhamidipaty with a vibrant game and a strong attitude, with possibly the best game among the Indian girls, will open against seventh seed Chae Hyun Sim of Korea.

Vipasha Mehra, a talented left-hander, who came through the qualifying event, will be up against the gutsy Sandeepti Singh Rao.

The seedings:

Boys: 1. Siddhant Banthia, 2. Mann Shah, 3. Sacchitt Sharrma, 4. Kasidit Samrej (THA), 5. Dev Javia, 6. Piotr Pawlak (POL), 7. Ryuhei Azuma (JPN), 8. Romain Faucon (BEL).

Girls: 1. Shivani Amineni, 2. Erin Richardson (GBR), 3. Matilda Mutavdzic (GBR), 4. Koharu Niimi (JPN), 5. Pimrada Jattavapornvanit (THA), 6. Salsa Aher, 7. Chae Hyun Sim (KOR), 8. Malikaa Marathe.

The results:

Qualifying event:

Boys (third and final round): Sanjith Devineni (USA) bt Anargha Ganguly 6-0, 6-1; Faiz Nasyam bt Prabjeet Singh Chandhok 6-4, 6-2; Suhith Reddy Lanka bt Sarvesh Biramane 6-3, 6-4; Kartik Saxena bt Siddharth Jadli 6-1, 7-6(5).

Second round: Sanjith Devineni bt Arjun Gohad 6-2, 6-2; Anargha Ganguly bt Abhyuday Sharma 6-2, 6-4; Faiz Nasyam bt Daksh Ashok Agarwal 6-3, 6-2; Prabjeet Singh Chandhok bt Kapeesh Khandge 6-4, 6-4; Sarvesh Biramane bt Amaan Adil Tezabwala 6-4, 6-0; Suhith Reddy Lanka bt Kartik Parhar 6-3, 7-6(3); Kartik Saxena bt Dhananjay Singh 6-3, 6-4; Siddharth Jadli bt Shreejit Sen 6-4, 7-5.

First round: Arjun Gohad bt Sidharth Marathe 6-3, 6-2; Daksh Ashok Agarwal bt Abhishek Mangale 7-5, 6-1; sarvesh Biramane bt Krish Patel 6-1, 6-2; Dhananjay Singh bt Debabrata Pradhan 6-1, 6-0.

Girls (third and final round): Prerna Vichare bt Sarah Dev 6-0, 6-1; Jagmeet Kaur Grewal bt Srujana Rayarala 6-2, 6-1; Gargi Pawar bt Sudipta Kumar 6-2, 6-2; Vipasha Mehra bt Malvika Shukla 6-3, 6-4.

Second round: Sarah Dev bt Bipasha Mehn 6-4, -3; Prerna Vichare bt Saina Deshpande (US) 6-1, 6-2; Jagmeet Kaur Grewal bt Maanya Viswanath 6-2, 6-0; Srujana Rayarala bt Aarya Sachin Patil 6-1, 6-2; Sudipta Kumar bt Khushi Sharma 6-1, 6-0; Gargi Pawar bt Vidisha Reddy Pallam Reddy 6-1, 6-1; Vipasha Mehra bt Vaishnavi Adkar 6-2, 6-2; Malvika Shukla bt Ishita Singh 6-2, 6-2.

First round: Bipasha Mehn bt Lolakshi Kankariya 6-2, 6-1; Saina Deshpande bt Vyomaa Bhaskar 6-0, 6-2; Prerna Vichare bt Vanshita Pathania 6-3, 6-4; Jagmeet Kaur Grewal bt Richa Chougule 6-4, 6-1; Aarya Sachin Patil bt Tanvikhaa Saravanan 6-1, 6-2; Khushi Sharma bt Rushika Doifode 6-4, 6-4; Vidisha Reddy bt Ritti Agarwal (USA) 6-3, 6-1; Gargi Pawar bt Laalitya Kalluri 6-2, 6-2; Vaishnavi Adkar bt Yashaswini Panwar 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; Ishita Singh bt Harivarshine Murugesan 6-3, 7-6(4).