Siddhant sets up date with Sacchitt

PUNE: Top seeded Siddhant Banthia and No 3 Sacchitt Sharma led an all-Indian field into Friday's semifinals in the boys' section of the Gadre Cup ITF Junior Grade 3 tennis tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana courts on Thursday.
But for Pune's Salsa Aher, the fifth seed, losing a tough match against Japan's Ayumi Miyamoto in the quarterfinal action on Thursday, the girls' draw too could have had a similar result.
Siddhant fired winners at will to crush Poland's Michal Wozniak 6-2, 6-0 win. The Pune boy will take on Sacchitt who scored a 7-5, 6-4 win over fellow Indian Theertha Macherla.
Fourth seed Rishabh Sharda overcame No 8 seed James Story 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, while in the final quarter of the draw No 7 seed Abhimanyu Vannemreddy shut out Jacob Fearnley 6-3, 6-2.
In the doubles action, Siddhant and Megh Bhargav Patel moved into the final with a 7-5, 7-5 win over No 4 seeds Jacob Fearnley and James Story.
The top seeds will meet No 3 seeds Dev Javia and Rishabh, who scored 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Sacchitt and Abhimanyu.
In the girls' section, Japan's No 2 seed Ayumi Miyamoto scored a tough 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) win over Salsa Aher after Akanksha Bhan, Shivani Amineni and Vaideki Chaudhari had cruised into the semifinals earlier in the morning.
Salsa can still aim for a trophy on Friday as she and her Japanese partner Shiori Ito defeated No 4 seeded pair of Evelina Kontareva of Russia and Aesha Patel 6-4, 6-3 to enter the final.