Bengaluru, Aug 30: The KSLTA World Tennis Junior J30 Bengaluru enters its main-draw phase on Monday with a strong field of India’s leading junior players, including several promising Karnataka youngsters, set to battle for honours at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium.

The boys’ draw is headed by Karnataka’s Tejas Ravi, the No. 1 seed. He will be joined by fellow state players Shreyanth Mahanthesha, Yash Kumar, Ishaan Badagi and Puneeth Manohar, giving the home contingent plenty to cheer for.

Puneeth, 14, brings particularly impressive credentials despite competing in the Under-18 junior category. The Bengaluru youngster is the Asia No. 1-ranked Under-14 player and recently represented the ITF Grand Slam Player Development Programme touring team at the Wimbledon U-14 Championships. He also won the doubles title at the prestigious Tennis Europe U-14 Super Category event in Düren, Germany, earlier this month.

The other seeded boys are Ahan Shetty (2), Niyanth Badrinarayan (3), Vivaan Mirdha (4), Pradnyesh Shelke (5), Fazal Ali Meer (6), Ayan Shetty (7) and Nithinbarath KS (8).

The girls’ draw has an even stronger Karnataka presence, with Karthika Padmakumar seeded No. 2, Disha Kumar No. 3, Shreeniti Chowdhury No. 4 and Aahida Singh No. 5. The top seed is Shaivi Dalal, while Vasundra Balajee, Tejaswi Manneni and Riddhi Shinde complete the eight seeded players.

Meanwhile, three Karnataka players have battled their way through to the final round of qualifying. Arjun Manikandan in the boys’ section and Krishika Gautam and Pooja Nagaraj remain in contention in the girls’ draw.

Arjun reached the final qualifying round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Raghav Sarode, while Krishika produced one of the biggest wins of the qualifying competition, upsetting No. 3 seed Nalyaazhini Krishnaprabhu 7-6(4), 6-3. Pooja Nagaraj also advanced, defeating fellow Karnataka youngster Avni Punaganti 7-5, 6-4.

The final round of qualifying will be played on Monday alongside the opening matches of the main draw, setting up an action-packed day of international junior tennis at KSLTA.

Results (All Indians unless mentioned in brackets)

Boys Qualifying Round-2

7-Atharva Sriramoju bt Arjun Soori Puttegowda 6-1, 6-3;
Rishi Yadav bt Rudra Batham 6-1, 6-1;
Shreyas Narendran (USA) bt 6-Prabshsifat Singh 6-2, 6-3;
1-Neel Kelkar bt Sidhant Wodeyar 6-2, 6-2;
Arjun Manikandan bt Raghav Sarode 6-3, 6-3;
Pradyumna Tatachar bt 2-Daksh Deepak Patil 5-7, 6-2, 10-3;
8-Arya RC Thirumurthi (USA) bt Neil Ambekar 6-0, 6-1
Mahijeet Pradhan bt Nikunj Khurana 6-1, 6-3

Girls Qualifying Round-2

1-Riya Gangamma Pudiyokkada bt Jemima Rebecca Christine John 7-5, 6-4;
Avipsha Dehury bt P Sai Sanjana Reddy Polakala 6-4, 3-6, 10-5;  
Sanidhya Karantoth bt Harsha Deshpande 6-2, 6-2;
Krishika Gautam bt 3-Nalyaazhini Krishnaprabhu 7-6 (4), 6-3;
Arya Rajesh Patil (AUS) bt Saanvi Mohan 6-1, 6-1;
Sajhi Jain bt Mehul Malik 6-3, 4-6, 10-7
Pooja Nagaraj bt Avni Punaganti 7-5, 6-4;Samradnyee Dalvi bt Ayushi Megchiani (USA) 2-6, 6-1, 11-9.