Wild card entrant defeated Sandeepti Singh Rao 6-3, 7-5 in the second round

Fourteen-year-old Jensi Kanabar continued her impressive run as she stormed into the quarter-finals of the HCL $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the DLTA courts on Thursday. Jensi, a wild card, saw off the challenge from Sandeepti Singh Rao 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.

The teenager will face eighth seed Arina Arifullina in the quarter-finals. Arina had a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over qualifier Bela Tamhankar.

Competing among tough opponents and reaching the last eight stage would do a world of good for left-hander Jensi as she takes fledgling steps on the women’s circuit. The girl from Junagadh, Gujarat created a flutter this year by winning the Australian Open Asia Pacific U14 title.

This is only her second tournament on the ITF women’s circuit. Earlier, she reached the second round of the W15 event in Ahmedabad this year and was handed a wild card for this tournament. At the junior level, she has won two singles titles in Guwahati (J60) and Ahmedabad (J30).

 Zeel in quarters

Top seed Zeel Desai cruised past Parthsarthi Arun Mundhe 6-4, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals. Zeel will take on Shruti Ahlawat, who overcame a spirited fightback by Soha Sadiq to win 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Second seed Elina Nepliy of Russia sailed through comfortably with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Madhurima Sawant. Nepliy will meet Poland’s Zuzanna Kolonus, who got the better of fifth seed Akanksha Nitture 6-4, 6-0.

Aditi Rawat, who tamed fourth seed and last week’s winner in Panipat, Michika Ozeki, in the first round, made it to the quarterfinals, though she was stretched to three sets by Jennifer Luikham before winning 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4. Aditi will have another stiff challenge in Ksenia Laskutova in the last eight. EOM