Shivani in national ranking junior tennis semis

Pune, Nov 20: Shivani Ingale of Maharashtra scored a comprehensive 6-0, 6-4 win over Jitasha Shastri to storm into the semi-finals of the Walchand Cup All-India Ranking National Series Under-16 tennis at the Deccan Gymkhana courts here Thursday.

Top seeded Shivani will now meet No.4 seed Shivani Amineni of Andhra Pradesh in the semi-final Friday. Amineni defeated No.6 seed Megha Muthukumaran of Tamil Nadu 6-3, 6-2.

In the bottom half of the draw, Prinkle Singh of Jammu and Kashmir ousted Rashamika Bhamidipaty of Andhra Pradesh 6-0, 6-3 to set up semi-final clash with Harsha Sai Challa of Andhra Pradesh. Harsha had won 7-5, 6-3 over statemate Sivanajua Peddada in the fourth girls' quarter-final of the day.

In the boys' section, top seed Siddhant Banthia hardly broke a sweat to beat Himakesh Durga Sankineni 6-1, 6-2. Siddhant now meets Arnav Bhardwaj of Haryana in the semis.

Arnav defeated Tushar Sharma of Uttar Pradesh 6-2, 6-3.

In the bottom half of the draw, third seeded Sivadeep Kosaraju of Andhra Pradesh got the better of Sai Pranav Ponka of Karnataka 6-4, 6-4 while second seed Armaan Bhatia defeated Sacchitt Sharma of Delhi 6-2, 6-3.

Results: Quarterfinals:
Boys: 1-Siddhant Banthia (Mah) bt Himakesh Durga Sankineni (AP) 6-1, 6-2; 4-Arnav Bhardwaj (Har) bt Tushar Sharma (UP) 6-2, 6-3; 3-Sivadeep Kosaraju (AP) bt Sai Pranav Ponka (Kar) 6-4, 6-4; 2-Armaan Bhatia (Mah) bt 7-Sacchitt Sharma (Del) 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles (semi-finals): Arman Bhatia and Siddhant Banthia bt Arnav Bhardwaj and Utkarsh Bhardwaj 7-5, 6-4; Amit Beniwal and Kosaraju Sivadeep bt Akshat Agarwal and Rishi Khirwar 6-4, 7-5.

Girls: 1-Shivani Ingale (Mah) bt Jitasha Shastri (Mah) 6-0, 6-4; 4-Shivani Amineni (AP) bt 6-Megha Muthukumaran (TN) 6-3, 6-2; 3-Prinkle Singh (J&K) bt Rashamika Bhamidipaty (AP) 6-0, 6-3; 2-Harsha Sai Challa (AP) bt Sivanajua Peddada (AP) 7-5, 6-3.

Doubles (semi-finals): Prinkle Singh and Kritika Chhabra bt Shivani Ingale and Harsha Sai Challa 6-4, 6-4; Sivanuja Peddada and Megha Muthukumara bt Shivani Ameneni and Rutvi Shah 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.