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Defending champion Manish Sureshkumar of Tamil Nadu began the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship 2023 on a positive note with a win over Maan Kesharwani (Uttar Pradesh) in the men's singles category, here on Monday.

The No. 4 seed faced an early challenge as the precision of Kesharwani's shots from the baseline disrupted his rhythm. However, Sureshkumar was soon back into his groove and played outstanding forehands coupled with accurate backhands to win the match 6-4, 6-4 and move into the second round of the tournament.

"Last year was a good experience as I went on to win the tournament and I would like to continue the same. I played my first match today and I was not feeling very sharp but as I play more matches here I will get into the groove, and hopefully, I will be able to repeat what I did last season," commented Sureshkumar after the hard-fought victory.

Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship, organised under the aegis of All India Tennis Association and Delhi Lawn Tennis Association, 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 No. 2 seed Karan Singh of Haryana also kicked off the tournament with a victory as he registered a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Jagmeet Singh. Meanwhile, No. 7 seed Ishaque Eqbal (West Bengal) defeated Gujarat's Dhruv Hirpara 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in a three-set thriller to reach the second round.

In the women's singles category, Maharashtra's Vaishnavi Adkar made a positive start in the competition as the No. 4 seed defeated Sonal Patil 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets. The No. 5 seed Sharmada Balu also made a winning return to the Fenesta Open National Tennis Championship after defeating Telangana's Paavanii Paathak 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the next round.

Meanwhile, the Under-18 Boys category saw top seed Chandan Shivaraj (Karnataka) defeating Tamil Nadu's Kavin Karthik K S 6-1, 6-3 in straight sets, while Aditi Rawat of Haryana beat Swasti Singh 6-0, 7-5 in straight sets as well in the Under-18 Girls category to move into the second round.

The tournament offers an attractive prize pool of over INR 21.5 lakh along with kit allowance for the junior categories.