Shivani pulls off upset

Kolkata, Jan 17: Shivani Manjan created a major upset showing second seed Kuan Yi Lee the door in the opening round of the 25th ITF Juniors tennis tourment being held at the clay courts of the Dakshin Kalikata Sansad here on Tuesday.

The tourment’s main catch in boys singles, tiol champion Nitin Kumar Sinha, meanwhile, had to make a late withdrawal as he made it to the qualifying list of the Australian Open juniors, scheduled to start from January 21. Qualifier Manjan got the much awaited break in the first set at 6-5, thereby bagging it by 7-5. In the second, Chinese Taipei’s Lee got a crucial break at 3-3, but got broken immediately at 4-3 on serve, thereby levelling the set at 4-4. Manjan got lucky yet again at 6-5 and eventually drubbed the second seed by a close 7-5, 7-5. Top seed in girls singles, Axa Mareen of Belgium took an hour and fourteen minutes to oust Shivani Swarup Ingle by a domiting 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, qualifier Shivank Bhatgar’s dream run continued as he entered the pre-quarter fil by defeating fellow Indian Siddharth Thakran by a 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-2 in a marathon tie. IANS