Zeel Desai and Vaidehi Chaudhari reach National Tennis Championships semifinals

Top seed Zeel Desai and second seed Vaidehi Chaudhari are headed for the women's singles title clash after reaching the semifinals of the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championships here on Thursday.

It was a tough outing for Vaidehi, who had to dig deep to beat Akanksha Nitture 4-6 6-2 6-3 in the quarterfinals at the DLTA Complex.

"It was a tough day today for me, I have played against her twice. This was a great match which was a tough one. I played good and pulled through," said Vaidehi.

Zeel, the woman in form Sharmada Balu and Samhitha Sai Chamarthi completed the semi-finals line-up. Zeel beat fifth Rashmikaa Shrivalli Bhamidpaty 7-6 (4) 6-1 in her last-eight clash.

"It was a good game. In the first set, Rashmikaa was playing really a big game. Her serve and forehands were strong, so sometimes I had to play defensive and win the points with a defensive approach. Overall, I am happy and looking forward to Friday's match," said Zeel.

In another quarter-final, fourth seed Samhitha was too good for Vanshita Pathania and won 6-4, 6-0. Qualifier Sharmada continued her fairytale run through the second week for a straight-set win against Reshma Maruri. In the men's singles, top seed Nikki K Poonacha cruised past Prithvi Sekhar 6-4 6-2 while third seed Nitin Kumar Sinha ousted Prajwal S D Dev 6-4 6-4.

Paras Dahiya knocked out Rishi Reddy 7-6(6) 6-3 and Digvijay Pratap Singh outslugged Siddharth Vishwakarma 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3.

"It was a pretty tough match. I lost to Siddharth in the last few matches so I knew this one was going to be a tough fight. I just had to believe in myself and give it my shot and wait for the opportunities," said Digvijay after his marathon effort.

Results:

Men's singles quarterfinals: Nikki K Poonacha (seeded 1) bt Prithvi Sekhar (seeded 6) 6-4,6-2 Nitin Kumar Sinha (seeded 3) bt Prajwal S D Dev (seeded 8) 6-4, 6-4 Paras Dahiya (seeded 4) bt Rishi Reddy 7-6(6), 6-3 Digvijay Pratap Singh bt Siddharth Vishwakarma 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3

Women's singles quarterfinals: Vaidehi Chaudhari (seeded 2) bt Akanksha Nitture 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; Sharmada Balu bt Reshma Maruri 6-0 6-3 Zeel Desai (seed 1) bt Rashmikaa Bhamidpaty (seed 5) 7-6 (4), 6-1 Samhitha Sai Chamarthi (seed 4) bt Vanshita Pathania 6-4 6-0.