Hirano, Kageyama enter boys’ singles semi-finals

Kathmandu, February 8

Taiyo Hirano and Taisei Kageyama of Japan entered the boys’ singles semi-finals of the Nepal ITF Juniors U-18 Circuit-I Tournament along with Anurag Agrawal of India and Chia-Fan Tsao of Chinese Taipei today.

In the matches played at the Satdobato Tennis Complex courts, Hirano came from a set down to beat Naithaolin Calvin Golmei of India 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, while Kageyama rallied to defeat India’s Jaishvin Sidana 4-6, 7-5, 7-5. Likewise, Agrawal beat fellow Indian player Prasanna PravinBagade 7-5, 6-2, and Tsao outplayed Vansh Bhagtani of India 6-2, 6-2.

In girls’ singles category, KanonYasumoto of Japan beat Srinidhi Sridhar of India 7-6 (5), 6-0, while Divya Vaani M of India defeated Chui Kei Leung of Hong Kong 7-5, 6-3 to make it to the semi-finals. Also, Yiming Dang of China defeated Prikle Singh of India 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, and Rutuja Champhalkar of the US registered a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Japan’s Manami Ukita.

In boys’ doubles semi-finals, Hirano teamed up with Tsao to beat Indian pair of Vansh Bhagtani and Jaishvin Sidana 6-2, 6-2, while Wenmao Li and Yangxuan Li of China defeated Japanese duo of Daisuke Imagawa and Taisei Kageyama 6-3, 6-4.

Likewise, Smriti Bhasin and Hrudaya Shah made it to the final with a 7-5, 7-5 win over fellow Indian players Ashpreet Kaur Bajwa and Punyatoya Mohapatra. They will face Chui Kei Leung of Hong Kong and Sanya Singh of India, who beat Japanese pair of Ayumi Hama and Kanon Yasumoto 6-1, 3-6, 10-7.