Aradhya Kshitij from Karnataka enters semifinal of ITF Junior World Ranking Tennis meet

In the opening set, Tavish Pahwa took a quick lead of 3-0, putting the sixth-seeded Kshitij under pressure.

From there, both boys representing the Indian flag held serve, and it was Pahwa who ultimately claimed the set 6-3.

In the second set, at 2-1, Kshitij grabbed a crucial break and eventually levelled the match by winning the set by a similar scoreline of 6-3.

In the decider, Pahwa held serve in the opening game and broke Kshitij in the second. At 3-2, Kshitij broke back and pulled the set to four games apiece.

At 4-4, Tavish again dropped serve from being 40-30 up, thereby allowing the sixth seed to book a semifinal berth at the event.

Kshitij will meet top seed Eyad Reda Ez Mohamed Sherif of Egypt in the semifinal on Friday. Sherif, in the last-eight stage, drubbed Japan’s Kensuke Kobayashi by a comfortable 6-4, 6-1.

The top two seeds in the Girls’ Singles Under-18 category, Miku Kitaoka of Japan and Ophelia Korpanec Davies of Great Britain, failed to enter the semifinals as they lost to fifth-seeded Arina Malygina and eighth-seeded Natsuki Irokawa in the quarterfinals, respectively. (eom)

Matches will start from 10 am on Friday.