NATIONAL TENNIS | Riya Bhatia squeezes past Yubrani Banerjee

Former champion Riya Bhatia battles past Yubrani Banerjee in a thrilling quarterfinal match at Fenesta National tennis championship.

Second seed and former champion Riya Bhatia had to be at her fiery best to wriggle her way past the free-stroking Yubrani Banerjee 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5) in the women’s quarterfinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship at the DLTA Complex on Thursday.

The 27-year-old Riya, who was ranked a career-best 338 in the world in 2020, relies a lot on her power play. She was dictating the flow of the match when she led 6-3, 2-0, but lost her way thereafter.

A superb counter puncher, Yubrani matched Riya stroke for stroke, especially in the decider, when she raced to a 5-3 lead. Riya had to be at her fighting best and turned the match around for a memorable victory.

In the semifinals, Riya will play the 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran, who has won six matches in a row, including three in the qualifying event, by dropping an overall average of four games per match.

The other semifinal will be between top seed Vaidehi Chaudhari and Pooja Ingale.

In the men’s section, lucky loser Rethin Pranav eased past the giant killer Yash Chaurasia for the loss of four games. He will face Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam in the semifinals.

The other semifinal will be between top seed Vishnu Vardhan and Nitin Kumar Sinha.