Manuja, Marquis to clash in U/16 junior national tennis semis

Mumbai, May 17 (UNI) Top seed Ronak Manuja and third seed Christopher Marquis recorded easy quarter-final victories to set up an interesting semi-final clash in the boys under-16 age group of the Ramesh Desai Memorial under-12, under-16 Tennis Nationals, being played at the Dr. G A Ranade Tennis Complex, here today.

Manuja, a part of MSLTA's Vision 2010 programme, demolished Gujarat's Samip Mehta 6-1, 6-0, while Marquis, a trainee at the Mahesh Bhupathi Academy, Bangalore, was equally clinical in his 6-3, 6-3 decimation of UP's Lakshit Sood. Also advancing to the semi-finals was second Sudhanva Sitaram, who outplayed UP's 10th seed Chandril Sood 6-1, 6-3 and the second Vision 2010 trainee Manshingh Atare, the most impressive winner with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline against Delhi's Ronit Bisht.

The girls under-16 pre-quarter-final matches also featured predictable outcomes with the seeded players advancing without much ado. Leading the march was top seed Kyra Shroff of Maharashtra who brushed aside the challenge of Natalia Khaniejo 6-2, 6-1. Also advancing with ease from the bottom half of the draw was second seed Gopika Kapoor of Delhi with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Karnataka's 13th seed Rachita Sarda.

In the girls under-12 pre-quarter-final action, unseeded A Sharmila of TN pulled off an upset win over 5th seed Seeulee K of Orissa winning a tough three-set encounter 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, while wild card entrant Kanika Vaidya continued her progress with a 6-1, 6-1 win over 15th seed Jasmine Bajaj of Delhi.

Results: Boys u-16 (Q/F): 1-Ronak Manuja (Mah) bt Samip Mehta (Guj) 6-1, 6-0; 3-Christopher Marquis (Mah) bt Lakshit Sood (UP) 6-3, 6-3; 6-Mansingh Athare (Mah) bt 16-Ronit Bisht (Del) 6-0, 6-0; 2-Sudhanwa Sitaram (TN) bt 10-Chandril Sood (UP) 6-1, 6-3.

Girls u-16 (pre-Q/F): 1-Kyra Shroff (Mah) bt Natalia Khaniejo (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; 2-Gopika Kapoor (Del) bt 13-Rachita Sarda (Ktk) 6-3, 6-0; 3-Tanvi Shah (Mah) bt Sonia Dayal (Mah) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; 14-Neha Purohit (AP) bt 4-Garima Vatwani (Del) 6-4, 6-3; 5-Rishika Sunkara (Del) bt 9-Divya Rao Madku (AP) 6-1, 6-3; 6-Treta Bhattacharyya (WB) bt Sharon Paul (TN) 6-1, 6-2; 10-Arushi Sharma (Del) bt T Nilaya (AP) 6-3, 6-1; 8-Ashvarya Shrivastava (Mah) bt 11-Shweta Rana (Har) 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Girls u-12 (pre-Q/F): Kanika Vaidya (Mah) bt 15-Jasmine Bajaj (Del) 6-1, 6-1; A Sharmila (TN) bt 5-Seeulee Upadhyaya (Ori) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4; 3-Teertha Iska (AP) bt Sanskruti Jangle (Mah) 6-2, 6-0; 7-Akshara Iska (AP) bt Sneha Reddy (Mah) 2-6, 6-5 con, 6-Parminder Kaur (Chd) bt 9-Srijita Ghosh (WB) 6-3, 6-0; 4-Tarrannum Handa (Del) bt Simran Sethi (Del) 7-5, 6-2; 8-Sai Samhitha (TN) bt 11-Amreen Sheik (AP) 6-1, 6-2; 2-Sansitha Nandakumar (TN) bt Nehal Sahni (Del) 6-1, 6-1.

Boys u-12 (Q/F): 1-Ronit Bisht (Del) bt Suraj H (Ker) 6-0, 6-0; 2-Vishal Passi (Mah) bt 9-Ronak Jhawar (AP) 6-2, 6-3; 3-Rohan Bhatia (Mah) bt 6-Ansu Kumar Bhuyan (Ori) 6-4, 6-0; 4-S M Abdullah (AP) bt 7-Rishab Agarwal (AP) 6-2, 1-6, 6-1.

UNI