Jamshedpur, May 8: Dream run for unseeded Sajal Kesarwani continues as he enters the semi-finals of the Men’s Singles event at the ongoing Tata Steel AITA Men’s National Ranking Tennis Tournament (1 Lac Prize Money) 2024, being held at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur.
Kesarwani could not do much in the opening set against 4th seeded Mukil Ramanan as he lost straight six games to drop the set by 0-6. In the second though, Kesarwani got back his rhythm and forced the 4th seed to play longer points as he eventually levelled the match at 1-set all by winning the second set by a close 6-3.
In the deciding set, it was a test of endurance and consistency where the unseeded Kesarwani got a little lucky as he won the set by a tie breaker. Kesarwani won the pre quarter finals by a long 0-6,6-3,7-6(2) that lasted for 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Top two seeds, V M Ranjeet of Tamil Nadu and Ritabrata Sarkar of Bengal had a comfortable task at hand at the quarter final matches held today. Ranjeet tamed 5th seeded Sarthak Suden of Delhi by a quick 6-1,6-1 whereas Sarkar comfortably pocketed the match against statemate Md Fardeen by 6-2,6-2. Abhinansu Borthakur, seeded 3 in the draw also proved to be far better than the younger Bicky Sagolshem of Manipur as the former won by a straight 6-3,6-3.
Schedule of matches will start from 08:00 am tomorrow and all the matches will be played at the JRD Tata Sports Complex.