National Tennis Championship: Vishnu Vardhan off to winning start

Telangana tennis player and two-time champion J Vishnu Vardhan and defending champion Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujarat started their 28th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2023 campaign with thrilling wins at the DLTA Complex

Hyderabad: Telangana tennis player and two-time champion J Vishnu Vardhan and defending champion Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujarat started their 28th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2023 campaign with thrilling wins at the DLTA Complex in New Delhi, on Tuesday.

Vishnu Vardhan, who is also the eighth seed in the tournament, had to dig deep to get a thrilling 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 victory against Adil Kalyanpur of Karnataka in the men’s singles match that lasted for more than three hours in scorching heat testing the physical limits of the players.

---

However, the Olympian utilised his experience in the third set to take the match with an exquisite backhand and move into the next round after Adil saved multiple match points.

In the women’s singles match, top-seed Vaidehee launched her title defence with a win as she defeated her state mate Saily Thakkar 6-2, 6-0 in straight sets to move into the next round of the tournament.

The women’s singles category also saw Delhi’s Kashish Bhatia beat Pooja Ingle (Maharashtra) 6-3, 6-4 and eighth seed Sai Samhitha overpower Delhi’s Kavya Kumar 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in a thriller.