Second seed Riya Bhatia faced a stern test in the quarterfinals of the Fenesta National tennis championship, battling past Yubrani Banerjee 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(5) at the DLTA Complex on Thursday.
Bhatia, a former champion and ranked 338th in the world in 2020, relied on her power play to take the first set 6-3. However, Banerjee, a superb counter puncher, fought back to win the second set 6-2.
The decider was a thrilling affair, with both players trading blows. Banerjee raced to a 5-3 lead, but Bhatia showed her resilience to turn the match around. She won the tiebreaker 7-5 to secure a hard-fought victory.
In the semifinals, Bhatia will face 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran, who has won six consecutive matches, including three in the qualifying event. The other semifinal will be between top seed Vaidehi Chaudhari and Pooja Ingale.
In the men’s section, lucky loser Rethin Pranav eased past 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.
