

CHENNAI: B Neelesh’s 7/36 helped Krishnagiri take a lead of 114 runs against Kanyakumari on the first day of their quarterfinal clash of the TNCA inter-district U-14 tournament, on Friday
Brief scores: Kanyakumari 59 in 25.3 ovs (VP Diran 3/17, B Neelesh 7/36) vs Krishnagiri 173/6 in 81 overs (J Vishal Dharsha 33, MA Ajay Srivarsan 47), Villupuram 54 in 51.1 ovs (Varchas Shivakumar 3/19, S Prajin 3/9) vs Coimbatore 119/2 in 39 ovs (K Sibiyenthal 77 no, G Siddharth 31 no), Erode 93 in 67.1 ovs (CA Bharath 31, V Tharun Kumar 3/11) vs Thiruvallur 78/3 in 33 ovs. Tirupur 333/9 in 90 ovs (S Karthic Kumar 72, SJ Arun Kumar 73, S Varun 33; J Rohan 5/57) vs Madurai 5/0 in 1 ovs.
Shekar, Balachandar in final Top seed Shekar Veeraswamy of Karnataka got the better of fourth seed D Mariappan of Tamil Nadu 6-1, 6-4 in straight sets in the semifinals of the Marina Open AITAranking wheelchair tennis tournament being played at SDAT tennis stadium. He will now face S Balachandar of Tamil Nadu in the final, who beat Anand Selvaraj 6-3, 6-2 in his semifinal.
In the first set, Shekar started confidently, playing fluent ground strokes and crisp volleys as he broke Mariappan in the very first game and then never looked back. Results (men’s semis): Singles: Shekar Veeraswamy (KA) bt Mariappan D (TN) 6-1, 6-4; S Balachandar (TN) bt Anand Selvaraj (TN) 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Gopinath K (KA)/ Shekar Veeraswamy (KA) bt Suresh Kumar S (TN)/Gabriel M (TN) 6-0, 6-2; Karthik K (TN)/ Balachandar (TN) bt. Anand Selvaraj (TN)/ Mariappan D (TN) 6-4, 6-2.
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