Champs Vishnu Vardhan, Prerna Bhambri on a roll

While Vardhan rode on his potent groundstrokes to whip Manish Sureshkumar 6-3, 6-4 in the men’s singles, Prerna overcame a spirited Mihika Yadav 6-4, 6-1 on yet another hot day at the DLTA complex.

Initially seeded one in the draw, before Sriram Balaji stormed into the main draw as a qualifier, Vishnu played consistently and quickly got into a rhythm against Manish.

Meanwhile, Lakshit Sood, who trains in Noida, outslugged seasoned pro Nitten Kirrtane 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 in another scintillating singles clash. Sood needed to use all his resources at his disposal to get past Kirrtane, a former nationals champion, in a tough battle.

Experienced fourth seed V.M. Ranjeet took time to settle down before prevailing over Prajwal Dev in a thrilling three setter 4-6,6-3,6-1.

The women’s singles section saw a bit of a battle when 16-year-old Mihika offered some resistance against Prerna before eventually losing.

In contrast, it was an easy outing for Snehadevi S. Reddy, title favourite and top seed, as she did the demolition job against Sneha Padamata with a clinical 6-0, 6-0 victory over the lesser know opponent. Among the juniors, top seeds Aryan Goveas and Zeel Desai moved into the next rounds of the tournament in the boys’ and girls’ categories respectively.