Top seed Bisht's fluent win in national tennis series tourney

Mumbai, Apr 30 (UNI) Boys' under-14 top seed Rohit Bisht of Delhi kicked off his campaign with a fluent win in the All India National Series and Maharashtra State Ranking Tennis Tournament 2007 here today.

As the main draw of the competition commenced, Bisht overcame compatriot Siddharth Sharma 6-1, 6-2.

In contrast, Sharan Patil of Karnataka endured a strong challenge from Maharashtra's Milind Seth before fashioning a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win.

The formidable Arjun Kadhe of Pune, runner-up in the Willingdon Championship Series last week, cruised past state mate Pranav Srinivasan 6-0, 6-0.

But Maharashtra's Parth Shah experienced the toughest challenge of the day before prevailing over Kurup Karan of Tamil Nadu 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Shah staged a gallant recovery to clinch a close second set after dropping the opening set. Kurup's challenge faded in the third as Shah romped home.

In the Maharashtra State Ranking tournament, Nikhil Passi enjoyed a rewarding day after winning the opening rounds in the boys under-12 and under-10.

Likewise, Sneha Reddy advanced to the girls' under-12 second round.

Results (1st round): Nat. Series: Boys U-14: Rohit Bisht (Del) bt Siddharth Sharma (Del) 6-1, 6-2; Sharan Patil (Kar) bt Milind Seth (Mah) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; Suraj Konwar (Guj) bt Anirudh Darp (Mah) 6-0,6-0; Arjun Kadhe (Mah) bt Pranav Srinivasan (Mah) 6-0, 6-0; Parth Shah (Mah) bt Kurup Karan (TN) 2-6, 7-5, 6-0; Anuj Chajjed (Mah) bt Karan S. (Kar) 7-5, 6-3.

Mah. State Ranking: Boys U-12: Rohan Bhatia bt Richi Agarwal 8-0; Amir Khan bt Durbjyoti Das 8-3; Pravan Patole bt Tanmay Gokhale 8-4; Nikhil Passi bt Shubam Kale 8-2; Nikhil Khanna bt Depanshu Premani 8-2.

Boys U-10: Nikhil Passi bt Romil Kamdar 7-0; Aryan Goveas bt Acharya Prithvi 7-2; Arbaz Maniyar bt Vatsin Thakkar 7-2; Mihir Damle bt Brent Dixon 7-5; Varun Patere bt Dhruv Sunish 7-0.

Girls U-12: Sneha Reddy bt Janki Shende 8-2; Prabhubi Singhania bt Sabia Khan 8-2; Jinsha Patel bt Aboli Goghari 8-2; Apoorva Barte bt Himali Shinde 8-4; Nandini Das bt Ramni Shaivya 8-0.

UNI