Sodhi stuns Grade 3 tourney winner Thailand’s Nirundorn at Aryan Pumps Asian Junior Tennis Championship

Pune, December 6, India: Unseeded Saheb Singh Sodhi stunned winner of Grade 3 u18 championship Tanapatt Nirundorn of Thailand 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in the first round of the Aryan Pumps Asian Junior Tennis Championship organised by Deccan Gymkhana Under the auspices of ITF, Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and Pune Metropolitan District Tennis Association and played at the Deccan Gymkhana Tennis courts in Pune on Monday.

It turned out to be revenge match for Sodhi as he was beaten by Nirundorn in the last week during round one of Gadre Grade 3 U18 junior tennis championship in the first round.

“Before going on to the courts I had fixed my mind set to beat him. In first set, I was completely charged up and won it 6-2 but in second set my energy level was bit low, in third set I managed to comeback and beat Nirundorn who was coming to tournament after winning five back to back matches on same courts,” said Sodhi who has started practicing under Kedar Shah at Bounce Tennis Academy, Pune since last four months.

Earlier Sodhi used to practice in Mumbai under Supriya Malay and Babu sir at Babu sir’s tennis academy. Sodhi was also runner up junior national tennis tournament, where he lost finals against Chirag Duhan in Chennai.

“I enjoy playing on hard courts and fast courts of Deccan Gymkhana suits my style of playing,” said Sodhi who is Class 12 commerce student of Mithibai College, Mumbai.

Yuvan Nandal, Chirag Duhan, Rushil Khosla, Denim Yadav and Anargha Ganguly were the other Indians who also entered the second round.

Pune girls enter round 2

Local girls Ruma Gaikaiwari and Sonal Patil scored an easy wins to enter the round two.

Gaikaiwari defeated wild card Kotistha Modak 6-2, 6-2 while Patil outplayed Lakshmi Gowda 7-5, 6-0.

Kashish Bote, Kristi Boro, Shruti Ahlawat, Suhitha Maruri were the other Indian girls who entered the round 2 of the tournament.

Following are the results:

Boys: Main Draw: First Round:

Yuvan Nandal (IND) [8] bt Maanav Jain (IND) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Chirag Duhan (IND) [6] bt Artur Khairutdinov (KAZ) 7-6(6), 6-1; Islam Orynbasar (KAZ) bt Aryan Shah (IND) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Rushil Khosla (IND) bt Skandha Prasanna Rao (IND) 6-2, 6-1; Daniil Felker (KAZ) bt Muni Ananth Mani (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Max Batyutenko (KAZ) [5] bt Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (IND)6-3, 6-4; Denim Yadav (IND) [7] bt Daksh Agarwal (IND) 7-6(7), 6-1; Anargha Ganguly (IND) bt Jaishnav Shinde (IND) 7-6(5), 6-0; Saheb Sodhi (IND) bt Tanapatt Nirundorn (THA) [3] 6-2, 2-6, 7-5;

Girls

Hayu Kinoshita (JPN) [6] bt Riya Uboveja (IND) 6-2, 6-2; Kashish Bote (IND) bt Pari Chavan (IND) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Ruma Gaikaiwari (IND) bt Kotistha Modak (IND) 6-2, 6-2;Kristi Boro (IND) bt Chahana Budhbhatti (IND) 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-0; Honoka Umeda (JPN) bt Anya Jacob (IND) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2; Shruti Ahlawat (IND) [3] bt Nemha Sarah Kispotta (IND) 6-1, 6-1; Sonal Patil (IND) bt Lakshmi Gowda (IND) 7-5, 6-0; Sara Saito (JPN) [4] bt Nandini Dixit (IND 6-2, 6-0;Suhitha Maruri (IND) [8] bt Priyanshi Panigrahi (IND) 6-0, 6-0; Yu-Yun Li (TPE) [2] bt Aarni Reddy Yellu (IND) 6-1, 6-1; Erkezhan Arystanbekova (KAZ) bt Bhumi Shekhar (IND) 6-0, 6-0.