Easy day for Vardhan, Mohit in national tennis championship

Top seed Vishnu Vardhan and second seed Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash scored easy wins to advance to the men's singles second round of the Fenesta Open, the National Tennis championship, on Tuesday.

Vardhan thrashed qualifier Sivadeep Kosaraju 6-0 6-3 while and former national champion Mohit got the better of Abhinashu Borthaku 6-4 6-3 in his first round.

Another former national champion Virali Murugesan Ranjeet, seeded fourth, cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Rishi Reddy. In the women's singles, sixth seed Eetee Maheta sent packing Aarthi Muniyan with a 6-2 6-3 scoreline while Jennifer Luikham faced stiff resistance from Muskan Gupta before prevailing 7-6 (2) 3-6 6-1. 

In the championship for Under-18, top seed BR Nikshep staved off a late resistance from Ashutosh Tiwari to prevail 6-0 7-6(7) in his opening round. Nitin Kumar Sinha was so dominant in his win over Divesh Gahlot that he did not let the latter win a single game. In the U-18 girls championship, top seed Vaidehi Chaudhri outplayed Pratibha Prasad 6-0 6-2. agencies