Navi Mumbai's Chhallani to lead seeds challenge

In a tournament of great upsets, unseeded Kian Patel, Aarav Mulay and Mahin Zaveri scored contrasting wins against their fancied higher ranked players to advance into the Boys quarter-finals round of the MSLTA - CCI All India Ranking National Series Under-14 Tennis Tournament 2024 that is being played at the CCI Tennis Courts.

Aarav Chhallani, Arjun Manikandan and Ansh Ramani were among the few surviving seeds who too qualified for the round-of-eight.

Maharashtra’s Patel showed little nerves as he outplayed fourth seed Rishav Prasad of West Bengal in two straight sets 6-1, 6-3 in the pre-quarter final round.

Mulay, also from Maharashtra who had shocked top seed Kabir Parmar of Gujarat in the opening round with relative ease, continued to impress the gathering with another gritty display in the tourney. Playing against Karnataka’s higher ranked player Vishwas Keerthan (13), he pulled off a hard fought 6-3, 7-6(8) win in the round-of-sixteen.

Telangana’s Zaveri had to dig deep into his reserves before he overwhelmed Maharashtra’s higher ranked player Pravakshya Srivastava (10) in three hard fought sets. In a match that witnessed numerous rallies and service breaks Zaveri prevailed with a score line of 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 and will next meet Patel in the quarters.

On the other hand Navi Mumbai based Aarav Chhallani, aged 12, was in prime form and cruised past Soham Ransubhe without breaking a sweat in two straight with a score line of 6-3, 6-0 victory. The second seed will next take on fellow state mate Ahaan Jain (10) for a place in the semis. Ahaan earlier got the better of unseeded Sarvadnya Sarode (Maharashtra) in two straight sets 7-5, 6-0.

On the other hand third seed Arjun Manikandan (Karnataka) made short work of unseeded Vishwak Gunampally (Telangana) while registering an easy 6-1, 6-0 win. His next opponent will be Rajasthan’s Madhav Ddhich (10) who defeated talented Maharashtra player Ansh Jalota 6-3 6-3 in the pre-quarters. Ansh earlier had knocked off eight seed Sanjay Girish Kumar (Karnataka) in two straight sets 6-0, 6-4 in the round- of- 32.

Results (Boys Under-14 Pre-quarter-finals): Aarav Mulay beat 13) Vishwas Keerthan 6-3, 7-6(8); 7) Ansh Ramani beat Naman Shah 7-5, 6-1; Kian Patel beat 4) Rishav Prasad 6-1, 6-3; Mahin Zaveri beat 10) Pravakshy Srivastava 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; 9) Madhav Ddhich beat Ansh Jalota 6-3 6-3; 3) Arjun Manikandan beat Vishwak Gunampally 6-1, 6-0; 11) Ahaan Jain beat Sarvadnya Sarode 7-5, 6-0; 2) Aarav Chhallani beat Soham Ransubhe 6-3, 6-0.

Photo Above:  Talented Navi Mumbai based Tennis player, Aarav Chhallani, ranked 2, is among the few seeded players who made it to the quarter finals round in the Boys category of the MSLTA - CCI All India Ranking National Series Under-14 Tennis Tournament 2024