Fenesta Open: Nikshep enters third round of boys` U-16

Top seed B R Nikshep thrashed Vatsal Gandhi 6-1 6-0 to make the third round of the boys Under-16 at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship on Monday.

New Delhi: Top seed B R Nikshep thrashed Vatsal Gandhi 6-1 6-0 to make the third round of the boys Under-16 at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship here on Monday.

In the other boys U-16 matches, Saurav Kalkal was pushed to three sets by Akash Nandwal before the Delhi boy managed to prevail 6-0 4-6 6-2 here at the R K Khanna Tennis Complex. Param Pun was at the receiving end, losing to Kushaan Nath 3-6 0-6, while Chandigarh boy Digvijay Pratap defeated Sahil Garware 6-2 6-3. Rishab Sharda also did well to reach the third round with a 6-2 6-1 win over Pallav Kumar Rousha. There were no major upsets in the boys U-14 category as well with top seed Sumit Pal Singh entering the third round with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Gaurav Gunupat. Sumit will next face S Manish of Tamil Nadu who set-up a third-round clash with the top seed following his 6-0 6-1 win against Nikhil Deshmukh. Second seed Parikshit Somani also had an easy outing. He posted a 6-1 6-1 win over Rishab Sharda to storm into the next round. It was easy for the other seeded players as well. Third seed Nitin Kumar Sinha beat Sacchit Sharrma 6-0 6-4, while Yugal Bansal, fourth seed, got the better of Ankit Rao 6-1 6-2, and Dhruv Sunish overcame Prakrut Kartik Patil 6-2 6-1. Sixth seed Utkarsh Bhardwaj, however, had to fight hard against Aaditya Muthu Senthilkumar. Uttarakhand boy Utkarsh lost the first set but did well to come back strongly and win the match 5-7 6-4 6-4. In the girls U-14, wild card entrant Seerat Sidhu will take on top seed Zeel Desai in the third round after she knocked out unseeded Nikay Parikh Ishita 6-4 6-0.