Jeevan, Sadhya top seeds in ITF Jr

Chandigarh, Feb 6: Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sadhya Nagaraj, both of India, have topseeded in the boys and girls singles, respectively in the SAIL ITF Junior Tennis Tournament (Grade 3) which commences at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association in Sector 10 here at 10 a.m.

Jeevan, who hails from Tamil Nadu, is ranked 64th in International Tennis Federation.

Vivek Shokeen, also of India, has been seeded second with ITF ranking of 96th.

Xiao-Peng of Hong Kong, ranked 147th, is the third favourite in the boys singles.

Faisal Aidil of Indonesia (ITF ranked 154th) has been seeded fourth.

Sandhya Nagaraj's ITF ranking is 99th.

She is the top favourite with the seeding committee.

Zeniya Palkina of Kyrgystan, with an ITF ranking of 18th, has been seeded second.

Madura Ranganathan of India, who lost to Amina Rakhim in the final in Delhi on Saturday, has been seeded third with an ITF ranking of 151.

Rakhim is fourth seed with an ITF ranking of 167th.

Meanwhile, the main draw players from the qualifying rounds were spotted today.

In the boys section, Alapati Siddharth, Honey Rana, Akash Wagh, all from India, advanced to the main draw at the end of final qualifying matches decided this afternoon.

Yashimara Hoshiba of Japan joined the main draw and he was the only foreigner who moved up to the main draw through qualifying rounds.

Alapati Siddharth and Honey Rana were given a harrowing time by their respective rival in the final boys singles round.

Siddharth ended the challenge of Wesley Baptist of South Africa in three sets 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Rana scored a hard-fought win over Agnel Gladwin Peter of India.

After surrendering the first set at 4-6, Rana bounced back into the game with vengeance as he won the next two sets at 6-3, 6-4.

A keen contest was witnessed in the first set between Yashimara Hoshiba of Japan and third seed Fariz Mohammed of India.

Both were evenly match.

After they were tied at six-all, Hohiba clinched the set in tie-breaker at 7-5.

Having taken the advantage 1-0, Hoshiba was on top as his rival meekly surrendered without winning a single game.

Akash Wagh of India easily beat fourth seed Kaushik Das of India 6-2, 6-3.

The girls who made it to the main draw were Denise Dy (Philippines), Iryana Khatsko of Ukraine, Varsha Shivashankar and Parija Maloo, both of India.

The winners defeated their respective rivals in straight sets.

Results: Qualifying rounds (finals): Boys: Alapati Siddharth (Ind) bt Wesley Baptish (RSA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, Honey Rana (Ind) bt Angel Gladwin Peter 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, Yoshimara Hoshiba (Japan) bt Fairz Mohammed (Ind) 7-6 (5), 6-0, Akash Wagh (Ind) bt Kaushik Das (Ind) 6-2, 6-3.

Girls: Denise Dy (Phi) bt Nao Fujii (Jpn) 6-3, 6-4, Iryana Khatsko (Ukr) bt Sweta Solanki (Ind) 7-6 (2), 6-1, Varsha Shiv Shankar (Ind) bt Ofelya Poghosyan (Arm) 6-2, 6-0, Parija Maloo (Ind) bt Supriya Mallaya (Ind) 6-2, 6-2.

Sedings: Boys singles: 1 Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (Ind, ITF ranking 64th), 2 Vivek Shokeen (Ind, 96th), 3 Xiao-Peng Lai (Hong Kong, 147), 4 Faisal Aidil (Indonesia, 154th), 5 Sumit P Gupta (Ind, 160th), 6 Vaja Uzakov (Uzb, 201), 7 Ayrton Wibowo (Ina, 206), 8 Agung Bagus (Ina, 213).

Girls singles: 1 Sandhya Nagaraj (Ind, 99), 2 Xeniya Palkina (Kgz, 118), 3 Madura Ranganathan (Ind, 151), 4 Amina Rakhim (Kaz, 156), 5 Else Potgieter (RSA, 167), 6 Dilyara Saidkhodjaeva (Uzb, 184), 7 Yulia Parasyuk (Russia, 193), 8 Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium, 215).

Balbir Singh, 98145-10110.