Veteran Kirrtane rallies to enter round two

Mumbai: Tennis veteran Nitin Kirrtane of Maharashtra, moved into the men's singles second round of the Rs 3.5 lakh MSLTA-IOC Khar Gymkhana All India Ranking men’s tennis tournament today. Maharashtra No. 1 and tournament second seed Kirrtane, from Pune, dropped the first set before getting past Krishna Teja Ankam of Telangana by winning the next two sets.

Struggling to find his rhythm earlier, Kirrtane recovered well and utilised his vast experience to coast to a 1-6 6-1 6-1 win. Another Puneite, Anvit Bendre who trains under former national coach Nandan Bal, also entered round 2 by edging out Rithvik Anand of Tamil Nadu 6-3 2-6 6-4. Bendre set up a second round clash against top seed Kunal Anand of Delhi who sailed past Raghav Jaisinghani of Madhya Pradesh 6-3 6-0. The other first round winners were Chilakalapud Anirudh of Andhra Pradesh, Rohit Rampuria of West Bengal, Jatin Dahiya of Delhi, Bhavesh Gour and Yash Yadav, both of Madhya Pradesh.

Results: Men's singles(1st round): Kunal Anand (Del) bt Raghav Jaisinghani (MP) 6-3, 6-0; Nitin Kirrtane (Mah) bt Krishna Teja Ankam (Tel) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1; Anvit Bendre (Mah) bt Rithvik Anand (TN) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Chilakalapud Anirudh (AP) bt Anurag Nenwani (Del) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Bhavesh Gour (MP) bt Aaditya Tewari (MP) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Rohit Rampuria (WB) bt Sunil Malik (Guj) 6-3, 6-2; Yash Yadav (MP) bt Jagmeet Singh (Har) 6-2, 7-5; Jatin Dahiya (Del) bt Ominder Baisoya (Har) 7-5, 6-2.