Pranav Karthik pulled off a major upset, rallying from a set down to knock out fourth seed Udit Kamboj in the second round of the 31st Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship here on Wednesday (October 7, 2026).
Kamboj won the first set 6-1 and was neck-and-neck with his younger rival in the second set, which went to a tie-break. Karthik won the tiebreak 7-3 and carried that momentum into the decider to win 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in 2 hours and 31 minutes.
“To be honest, I was thinking I was going to lose for sure after the horrible first set,” the 21-year-old from Tamil Nadu said after the win.
"I just kept serving well and maintaining my service games. And when it came to tiebreak, it's 50-50. Then I just pulled it off with 3-4 good points. When I pulled off the tiebreak, I got more confidence and started going for my shots.
"The first game of the third set is always important because you have to keep pushing through and keep the momentum because you don't want to give him the breathing space. And thankfully, I got the break in the first game and then I was able to run away with the match after that," he said.
Meanwhile, men’s top seed Manish Sureshkumar had little trouble defeating Lakshit Sood 6-0, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. He was joined in the last eight by No. 6 seed Maan Kesharwani, No. 8 seed Rohan Mehra and Suraj Prabodh, who knocked out second seed Aditya Balsekar in the previous round on Tuesday.
The top five players in the women’s singles draw also booked their spots in the quarterfinals. Vaidehee Chaudhari defeated 16-year-old Ahaan Ahaan 6-4, 6-1, while Shruti Ahlawat beat Parthsarthi Mundhe 6-2, 6-2.
Third seed Akanksha Nitture also advanced, coming back after dropping the second set to defeat Yubrani Banerjee 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
There was also a big upset in the Boys U-18 singles draw as top seed Praneel Sharma was bundled out 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 by Veer Jiten Madam. Fourth seed Om Ramesh Patel and fifth seed Aditya Mor won their third-round matches in straight sets to join Madam in the quarterfinals.
In the Girls U-18 event, top seed Savitha Bhuvaneswaran was stretched to the limit by 14th seed Aahida Singh. The two battled for 2 hours and 45 minutes before Singh was forced to retire, with Bhuvaneswaran leading 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-0.
Bhuvaneswaran was joined by second seed Parthsarthi Mundhe and third seed Shreeniti Chowdhury in the quarterfinals.
Published - October 08, 2026 03:45 am IST