Vikram Menon advances to quarter-final

Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, Dec 12 (UNI) Unseeded Vikram Aditya Menon of Tamil Nadu had to fight hard to overcome a stiff challenge by Divyanashu Singh of Delhi to move into the men's singles quarterfinals in the All India Ranking Tennis Tournament here today.

After losing the first set for 2-6, in the second set Vikram came from behind and took the set 6-3. In the deciding set Singh took a lead of 4-1 but Vikram once again came into the game to level the score 4-4 and pushed the set score to six games all (6-6). In the tie breaker, Vikram won the break point (7-5) and won the match.

In the women's section Jilke Nellord of Delhi and Nupur Kaul of Maharashtra moved into the quarter finals.

Jilke defeated Swarupa Radha of Tamil Nadu in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in the first round, while Nupur beat Shilpi Jaiswal of Bihar with a score 6-2, 3-0 (conceded).

In men's another match, P C Vighnesh of Andhra Pradesh stopped the running spree of Abhay Prakash from Karnataka and won the match 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 while top seeded Aditya Madkakar of Maharashtra overcame the challenge of V M Rajeet of Tamil Nadu 7-5, 7-5 to move into the quarter finals.

Albeit losing the first set to Anukruthi Prasad of Delhi, Kesika Jayapalon of Tamil Nadu bounced back and won the remaining two sets 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 to move into the quarter-finals in the women's section.

Deepanwitha Chakrabarthy of Gujarat also entered the quarter-final after trouncing Karina Ahuja of Delhi for two straight sets 7-5, 6-0.

Results (Women) Jilke Nellored (dli) bt Swarupa Radha (tn) 6-1, 6-2. Nupur Kaul (mah) bt Shilpi Jaiswal (bihar) 6-2, 3-0 (conceeded). Kesika Jayapalon (tn) bt Anukruthi Prasad (dli) 5-7,6-3,6-3. Deepanwitha Chakrabarthy (guj) bt Karina Ahuja (dli) 7-5, 6-0 Varsha Shiva Shankar (kar) bt Naina Karsolia (up) 6-2, 6-0 Chira Shanthi (kar) bt Anupama Rajur (kar) 6-4,6-4 Asha Nanda Kumar (kar) bt Bandi Sai Pujitha (ap) 6-2, 6-2 P V Raja Rajeshwari (ap) bt Apurvika Shukla (mah) 6-1,6-3.

Results (Men) Vikram Aditya Menon (tn) bt Divyanashu Singh (dli) 2-6,6-3,7-6 (7-5) P C Vighnesh (ap) bt Abhay Prakash (kar) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 Aditya Madkakar (mah) bt V M Rajeet (tn) 7-5, 7-5 Vinod Sridhar (tn) bt S Kannan (ap) 6-1, 6-3 Kiran Kumar N (kar) bt Gajapathy Pillai (guj) 6-1, 6-1 Prajneesh G P (tn) bt Vinay Kamineni (ap) 6-2, 6-0 Arjun Gautam (kar) bt Sagar Ahuja (mah) 6-0, 6-0 Akash Gujrathi (mah) bt Fariz Mohammad (tn) 6-4, 6-4.

UNI