Pune: Paparkar, Rathi Survive Scares to Advance at Gadre Seafoods-MSLTA ITF Grade 3 Junior Tennis Championship
Pune, 3rd December 2024: Top-seeded Arnav Paparkar and last week’s champion Arjun Rathi endured tough challenges to advance to the second round of the Gadre Seafoods-MSLTA ITF Junior Grade 3 U18 Tennis Championship. The tournament, for the MV Deo Trophy, is being organized by Deccan Gymkhana under the auspices of the ITF, AITA, and PMDTA at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis Courts.
Paparkar overcame a gritty performance by compatriot Praneel Sharma, eventually winning 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in a closely contested match. Meanwhile, Rathi, the winner of the previous ITF event in Delhi, was pushed to the limit by Kazakhstan’s qualifier Nikita Nikolenko before prevailing 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3.
Results
Main Draw – First Round
Boys:
Arnav Paparkar (Ind) [1] bt Praneel Sharma (Ind) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
Arjun Rathi (Ind) bt Nikita Nikolenko (Kaz) 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3
Fedor Altukhov (Kaz) bt Vraj Gohil (Ind) 6-3, 6-3
Venkat Rishi Batlanki (USA) bt Neel Kelkar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1
Aaron Gabet (Fra) [5] bt Tanussh Ghildyal (Ind) 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Girls:
Aoi Watanabe (Jpn) [1] bt Sreemanya Reddy Anugonda (Ind) 6-0, 6-2
Rishitha Reddy Basireddy (Ind) [2] bt Sohini Mohanty (Ind) 6-3, 6-1
Nelli Ivanova (Kaz) bt Sreenidhi Balaji (Ind) 6-4, 6-3
Haritha Shree Venkatesh (Ind) [7] bt Azuna Ichioka (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2
Eva Kaliadina (Rus) [6] bt Harshini Nagaraj (Ind) 6-0, 0-6, 6-1
The championship continues tomorrow with more intense battles expected in both boys’ and girls’ categories.
