New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS): Defending champion Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu and fourth seed Vaishnavi Adkar (Maharashtra) stormed into the semi-finals of the ongoing 28th Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2023 in their respective categories, here on Thursday.

Manish registered a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Nitin Kr Sinha to move one step closer to defending his title in the men's singles category, while Vaishnavi defeated Sejal Bhutada (Maharashtra) 6-2, 6-1 in the women's singles category. The fourth seed will play Karan Singh of Haryana in the semis, who overcame two-time champion Vishnu Vardhan 6-4, 6-4 in straight sets.

Vaishnavi will now go up against Rashmikaa S Bhamidipaty as the Telangana player beat Sai Samhitha C 6-0, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.

The National Tennis Championship has witnessed the participation of renowned Indian tennis players such as Rohan Bopanna, Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri, Sania Mirza and Rutuja Bhosale in the past editions. It is India’s biggest domestic tennis tournament.

The men's singles category also saw the victory of 2018 champion Siddharth Vishwakarma, who defeated Ranjeet VM (Tamil Nadu) 6-4, 6-1 to move into the next round. He will now face Ishaque Eqbal of West Bengal in semis. Eqbal defeated Abhinav Sanjeev S (Tamil Nadu) 7-6, 7-6 in a thrilling battle.

Defending champion Vaidehee Chaudhari of Gujarat continued her startling form as she thumped Lakshmi P Arunkumar (Tamil Nadu) 6-2, 6-3 to face Sandeepti Rao of Haryana in the semis. Sandeepti registered a win against Akanksha Nitture 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in a three-set match.