New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Olympian and Former Asian Games medallist Vishnu Vardhan and top seed Nitin Kumar Sinha continued their winning run to reach the third round of the ongoing 30th National Tennis Championship at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

The Telangana-based player showed no signs of slowing down, easing past Deepak A 6-1, 6-2 in the men’s singles category. Nitin Kumar Sinha of West Bengal also advanced to the third round after his opponent, Smit Patel, retired due to injury with the score at 6-3, 3-2 in the second set.

Supported by DCM Shriram Ltd., and held under the aegis of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA), the Fenesta Open is India’s largest domestic tennis championship, drawing top contenders from across the country.

Meanwhile, Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu and Soha Sadiq of Karnataka also won their respective matches to reach the third round of the tournament. The former champion showcased tremendous power and speed to get the better of Debasis Sahoo of Odisha 6-2, 6-1 in the men’s singles category.

On the other hand, Soha had to work hard for her victory in the second round of the women’s singles category against Aakruti N Sonkusare of Maharashtra. The fourth seed started slowly, with Aakruti racing to a 3-1 lead, but Soha bounced back in style, winning five consecutive games to claim the first set.

Aakruti staged a sublime comeback in the second set, taking it 6-3 before Soha responded with her solid baseline play, edging the decider 6-4 to seal a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory in a gruelling contest.

Maharashtra’s Akanksha Nitture also continued her fine form in the tournament as the second seed defeated Sohini Sanjay Mohanty 6-1, 7-6 (2) in straight sets to reach the third round in the women’s singles category. Punjab’s Sahira Singh looked in complete control of her second-round match to beat Jeetesh Kumari 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets.

Besides the prestigious titles, the winners will be awarded with prize money with a total prize pool of over Rs 21.55 Lakh and Kit Allowance in the junior categories up for grabs. The winners and runners-up in the U16 and U14 singles events will also receive a Tennis scholarship of ₹25,000 each.

The Boys and Girls Under-16 & Under-14 category qualifying and main draw matches will be played from October 5 to October 11.

–IANS

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