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Tamil Nadu players Oges Theygo and Yashika Venu registered upset victories in contrasting styles to enter the pre-quarterfinals in the Men’s and Women’s categories respectively of the Rs 2-lakh prize money KSLTA-AITA Pro Circuit 2021, supported by Srinivas and Badri Foundation and Sri Chakra Engineering Equipments.

In the first round ties played here at the KSLTA Stadium on Wednesday, Oges ousted third seed Yash Yadav of Madhya Pradesh in straight sets 6-2, 7-5 while Yashika overcame home favourite and second seed Prathiba Prasad Narayan 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.

Oges an MBA student at the SRM College in Chennai, displayed his mind management techniques when required the most. After taking the first set comfortably 6-2 against his fancied rival, the 20-year-old lost the tempo as well as his concentration and was down 3-5 in the second set with Yash serving for the set. However, Oges made a superb comeback, breaking his opponent’s serve at love, thanks to his good returns. In the next game, with the score at 30-30, Oges charged the net and won two points with a serve and volley approach which brought back his confidence. That paved the way for Oges winning the next two games to seal the fate of the match.

Meanwhile Yashika took some time to get into the groove but by then she had already lost the first set at 2. Then the 16-year-old came back strongly after being 1-3 down in the second to win the second set 6-4, taking the match into a modified tie-break (owing to the paucity of time, imposed only for Wednesday’s matches), where the first player to win 10 points with a difference of two would emerge as the winner. The first six points were contested fiercely with the scores tied at 3-3. However, it seemed the Tamilian had conserved her energy for the last as she put the ball on the court with as much aplomb as her famed rival but in a sudden spurt, charged to the net and scored three winners which gave her momentum she was looking for.

Results (Round of 32) (Seedings in pre-fix, states in brackets)

Men’s Singles

1-Ishaque Eqbal (WB) bt Q-Kiruthik AS Kalyaan (TN) 6-3, 6-3; Manish G (KA) bt Q-Hasith Srujan G (AP) 6-2, 6-0; LL-Shane Biddaiah (KAR) bt LL-Aditya Arora (MAH) 6-0, 6-4; 7-Arnav Pathange (KAR) bt Q-Chetan Gadiyal (GUJ) 3-0 (retd); Oges Theyjo J (TN) bt 3-Yash Yadav (MP) 6-2, 7-5; Hevanth Kumar (TS) bt Pagalavan D (TN) 6-2, 6-3; Q-Raju M (KAR) bt Tarun Karra (TS) 6-2, 6-2; 5-Vivek Gautam (KAR) bt Nikshep BR (KAR) 5-2 (retd); 8-S Kosaraju (AP) bt Deepak A (KAR) 4-6, 6-2, 10-8; R Ayappan (TN) bt LL-S Kotarkonda (AP) 7-5, 6-1; Boopathy Shaktivel (TN) bt Guhan Rajan (TN) 6-4, 3-6, 10-6; 4-Vishnu Vardhan (TS) bt Q-Jeffrey Sam Prakash (TN) 6-2, 6-0; Ishan Husain (TN) bt 6-Irfan Husain (TN) 7-6 (5), 6-1; Rishiraj Shekhawat (RAJ) bt Q-S Sheshadri (KAR) 6-1, 4-6, 10-8; Karthic Kumaran (TN) bt LL-Chandan Shivraj (KAR) 2-6, 7-5, 10-8; 2-Rishi Reddy (KAR) bt Q-Rashein Samul 6-4, 6-4.

Women’s singles

1-Ramya Natarajan (TN) bt LL-Pragati Prasad Narayan (KA) 6-3, 6-3; Nagalakshmi Sarvani Chinthalapalli (AP) bt Priyanshi Bhandari (GUJ) 0-6, 7-5, 11-9; Q-Naisha Srivastav (KA) bt Megha Muthukumaran (TN) 6-1, 6-0; 5-Vanshita Pathania (KAR) bt Apporva SB (KAR) 6-3, 6-2; 4-Gayatri R Menon (KER) bt Sanika Kambli (MAH) 6-3, 6-1; Q-Sanjeevini Kutwal (MAH) bt Q-Kaajal Ramishetty (KAR) 6-1, 7-5; Q-Nitya Sekar Chandrashekar (TN) bt Q-Kanika Sivaraman (TN) 6-4, 2-6, 10-6; 8-Anusha Kondaveeti (AP) bt Bhargavi Olekar (KAR) 6-3, 6-0; Saidiya Balaji (TN) bt 6-Dakshata Patel 4-6, 6-4, 10-3; Bala Gayathri Angam (TS) bt Himadri Kashyap (GUJ) 6-2, 6-2; Yashaswini Panwar (MP) bt Q-Kashmira Manohar (KAR) 7-5, 6-1; 3-Avishka Gupta (TS) bt Sharon William (TN) 6-0, 7-6 (3), 10-7; 7-Lalitya Kalluri (MAH) bt LL-Shreya Naik (MAH) 6-2, 6-1; Q-Gagana Mohan Kumar (KAR) bt Apeksha Solanki (KAR) 6-0, 6-2; LL-Harini Parthiban (TN) bt Harivarshine M (TN) 6-2, 6-2; Yashika Venu (TN) bt 2-Prathiba Prasad Narayan (KAR) 2-6, 6-4, 10-5.