Akanksha Nitture overcomes Sahira, Riya survives a scare

Maharashtra girl Akanksha Nitture overcame Punjab's rising talent Sahira Singh 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the opening round of the Fenesta Open National tennis championships in New Delhi on Monday.
In the men's action, Prasad Ingale went down fighting to fourth seed Kabir Hans of Odisha 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 at the DLTA Complex.
Haryana lad Ajay Malik and Tamil Nadu's Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam tore up the form book by knocking Delhi's fifth seed Parth Aggarwal and third seed Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal respectively.
Malik won 6-4, 6-4 while Abhinav prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Meanwhile, evergreen Davis Cupper Vishnu Vardhan kicked off his campaign with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Haryana's Udit Kamboj.
Women's second seed Riya Bhatia of Delhi survived a scare, overcoming Joell Nichole of Tamil Nadu 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1.
But eighth seed Abhaya Vemuri of Telangana was not so lucky, as Railways' Yubrani Banerjee packed her off 6-1, 7-6 (9).
The script went to form book otherwise with top seed Vaidehee Chaudhari, fifth seed Aditi Rawat and sixth seed Soha Sadiq coming through without breaking a sweat.
In a battle of Delhi girls, Riya Sachdeva prevailed over Samaira Malik 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.
Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, the promising 15-year-old from Coimbatore, booked her main draw berth with an overwhelming 6-1, 6-1 win over Manognya Madasu of Andhra in the final round of qualifying. She will face fellow Tamil Nadu player, fourth seed Lakshmi Prabha Arunkumar, in the first round.
Upcoming Tamil Nadu teenager Rethin Pranav had a mixed day.
The 17-year-old made it to the men's main draw as a lucky loser after falling the final qualifying round, but that good news was off set by the 7-6 (5), 6-3 loss to Yashasvi Balhara of Chandigarh in the first round of the Under-18 section.
Another Chandigarh lad, eighth seed Akshat Dhull, rallied to outlast Karnataka's Srikar Doni 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4).
In the women's Under-18 event, Maharashtra qualifier Parthasarthi Mundhe sustained her form to overcome Jeetesh Kumari of Delhi 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.