In a surprising turn of events, the top seed in the girls’ category was eliminated in the first round of the ITF J30 tennis tournament held at the Ahmedabad City Tennis Foundation in Navrangpura on Monday. This unexpected outcome sets the stage for an unpredictable tournament as competitors vie for the title.
Shaivi Dalal was beaten 5-7, 6-7 (5-7) by Aditi Paturi of the USA. Aaradhya retired while trailing 1-3 against Avyaktha Rayavarapu of the USA; Riddhi lost 3-6, 1-6 to Zoha Qureshi. Top seed Om Patel defeated Amrit Vats 6-3, 6-4. Fourth seed Nirbhay Agarwal of the US beat Raghav Prabhu 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 10-3. Nithinbarath KS enjoyed a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Varad Undre, while eighth seed Ojasveer Singh earned a hard-fought win 6-4, 1-6, 12-10 over Chukka Lakshya Vardan. Among major upsets, unseeded Saksham Bansal toppled second seed Pradnyesh Shelke 4-6, 6-2, 10-8, while unseeded Abhivadya Misra had the measure of third seed Ayan Shetty 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Manan Rai thumped sixth seed Shlok Chauhan 6-0, 6-2, while seventh seed Vyom Shah was shown the exit door by Prateek Sheoran. The latter won 6-0, 7-5.
In the boys’ category, four seeds lost while an equal number of seeds registered victories. The third and fourth seeds, Aaradhya Meena and Riddhi Shinde, too bowed out, but in contrasting fashion.