ITF Kalaburagi Open: Siddhant Banthia powers past Shah
2 min read
Kalaburagi: Top-seeded Siddhant Banthia hardly broke into a sweat in his demolition of Dharmil Shah in the opening qualifying round of the men’s ITF Kalaburagi Open at the Chandrashekhar Patil Stadium courts here on Sunday.
The 24-year-old, who has had more success in doubles this season, scored a lopsided 6-0, 6-1 victory in double quick time. Banthia takes on fellow Indian Ajay Malik in the final qualifying round on the morrow.
Malik was equally dominant in his 6-4, 6-0 win over Bengaluru-based Deepak Anantharamu. Two other wildcard entrants from Karnataka in the qualifying draw of the $25,000 event too fell at the opening hurdle.
While Mysuru-based Yogin S Prakash went down 4-6, 3-6 to Pranav Karthik, Jason Daivd came up short against Rohan Mehra, losing 2-6, 2-6.
Playing more singles in recent times following his return from the USA, where he played predominantly doubles in collegiate tennis for University of California, Banthia is beginning to make a mark. Last week he took out Indian Davis Cupper Siddharth Vishwakarma in the opening round before going down in the next.
Coming off a doubles triumph in Portugal last month along with partner Divij Sharan, Banthia was quickly off the blocks, taking the opening set in a canter against Shah. He nearly dished out a double bagel, but Shah, who fired only in fits and starts, managed to hold serve in the sixth game before the top seed closed out the match in the next.
Results: Qualifiers (Round 1, Indians unless mentioned): Siddhant Banthia bt Dharmil Shah 6-0, 6-1; Ajay Malik bt Deepak Anantharamu 6-4, 6-0; Nitin Kumar Sinha bt Shourya Manik 6-0, 6-2; Yash Chaurasia bt Prasad Ingale 6-3, 6-2; Pranav Karthik bt Yogin S Prakash 6-4, 6-3; Chinmaya Dev Chauhan bt Deep Munim 7-5, 6-3; Anthony Susanto (Ina) bt Shivam Khanna 6-4, 6-1; Rohan Mehra bt Jason David 6-2, 6-2.
Ha Minh Duc Vu (Vie) bt Anurag Agarwal 6-0, 6-1; Muni Ananth Mani bt Rajeshwar Reddy Patlolla 6-1, 6-0; Maan Kesharwani bt Sajal Kesarwani 6-2, 6-4; Kabir Hans bt Oges Theyjo Jaya Prakash 6-4, 2-6, 10-8; Shivank Bhatnagar bt Sandesh Dattatray Kurale 6-3, 6-1; Priyanshu Choudhary bt Caheer Warik 6-1, 6-3; Udit Kamboj bt Anup Bangargi 6-3, 6-1; Dheeraj Kodancha Srinivasan bt Prajwal Tewari 6-2, 6-2.
– Team Mysoorunews
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