Maharashtra’s Sandesh Kurale produced a huge upset. He defeated 12th seed Fardeen Mohammed in the first round of qualifiers of the 29th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship. Top seed Dheeraj K S began the tournament with a straight-set victory over Hitesh Yalamanchili. At the DLTA Complex in New Delhi on Saturday. In an exciting clash of the day, ranked 101 Maharashtra’s Sandesh looked in complete control of the match from the start. He upset 12th seed Fardeen of West Bengal 6-0, 6-0 in straight sets.
Tamil Nadu’s Dheeraj stamped his authority in the men’s singles match from the beginning. He registered a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Hitesh of Telangana. This helped him move closer to qualifying for the main draw. India’s largest domestic tennis tournament has been supported by DCM Shriram Ltd. It is a leading business conglomerate, under the aegis of All India Tennis Association and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association.
It is witnessing the participation of exciting talents from various parts of the country fighting for the coveted crowns. The tournament has seen the participation of some of India’s top tennis stars in the past editions. Including Rohan Bopanna, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza, and Rutuja Bhosale among many others.
Laxmi Dandu and Vidhi Jani qualify for the next round
Top seeds in the women’s singles event, Laxmi Dandu of Telangana and Gujarat’s Vidhi Jani received byes in the first round of the qualifiers. Ranked 300 in India, Vaibhav Charotia of Uttar Pradesh produced one of the performances of the day. He upset 12th seed Uttar Pradesh’s Arjun Bhati in a three-set thriller 5-7, 6-3, [10-6] in the boys u-18 singles category.
First and second seeds Ojas Mehlawat (Delhi) and Murtuza Huzefa K (Gujarat) received byes. They move into the second round of the qualifiers, respectively. The girls’ u-18 category also saw top seeds, Haryana’s Dhatri Dave (1) and Gujarat’s Pal Upadhyay getting byes in the first round. The main draw will be played from September 30 to October 5.
The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category matches will be played from October 6 to October 12. Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.
