Top seeds book semis berths

New Delhi: It was mixed luck for Siddhanth Banthia at the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship. Playing two events — under-18 boys and men’s — was not easy for him on Thursday as he lost to fifth seed Nitin Kumar Sinha in the senior event.

Siddhanth was not able to play his best game and lost 2-6, 2-6 in the quarter-finals of the mens’ event here. The youngster however defeated Krish Patel 6-0, 6-3 in the under-18 quarter-final to keep his hope alive to win the the junior boys’.

Arjun Kadhe continued his unbeaten run in his quest to become a national men’s champion. On Thursday, Arjun demolished Ishaque Eqbal from West Bengal 6-0, 6-3.

Later in the day, seasoned campaigner V.M. Ranjeet lost steam and the quarter-final to Siddharth Rawat in straight sets.

In the ladies’ singles event, Prerna Bhambri and Zeel Desai turned in strong performances. Prerna had to grind it out in the first set from the baseline and then played with more freedom to defeat Humera Shaikh 7-5, 6-1. For top seed Zeel Desai, it was a strong 6-3, 6-3 win against Sathwika Sama in the ladies quarter-finals. In the longest match of the day, Natasha Pahla from Goa beat Ramya Natrajan, the sixth seed from Tamil Nadu 6-2,5-7,7-6 (7/2).