Manish and Vaishnavi pose with the trophies.
| Photo Credit: Kamesh Srinivasan
Manish Sureshkumar and Vaishnavi Adkar were authoritative in emerging as champions in the Fenesta National tennis championship on Saturday.
Manish beat fellow trainee of coach Sureshkumar Sonachalam from Chennai, qualifier Keerthivassan Suresh 6-4, 6-2 for the men’s title.
It was a lively match in which both the players exhibited their repertoire from the back court with energetic strokes, even though they both were tired after the tough passage to the final.
“I am very happy to win this second National title. Coming into the tournament, I had no expectations, as I was not happy with my game. It is not in the same level that it used to be. I was not playing that good initially. I gained belief after beating Nitin Kumar Sinha in the quarterfinals. This title gives me the confidence to step into the international events and play better,” said Manish, who was presented the winner’s Cheque of Rs.300,000.
Like another Tamil Nadu lad, Rethin Pranav who had marched to the men’s title after making the main draw as a lucky-loser last year, Keerthivassan threatened to strike it big, but fell marginally short, despite a brave effort. He won everyone’s admiration for packing such a lively game in a wiry frame. He pocketed Rs.200,000 as the runner-up prize.
The prize money was equal for the women’s champions and runners-up, as Vaishnavi beat her fellow Maharashtra teammate, Akanksha, with considerable ease at 6-1, 6-2, despite dropping her serve twice.
“Till the last moment, I was not sure of competing in this tournament owing to the knee injury. I am happy to be the national champion. It feels surreal,” said Vaishnavi, even as she congratulated and thanked the DCM Shriram Group for sustaining the event for more than 30 years.
In the junior boys final, Tavish Pahwa recovered from being down 0-3 to take the first set in the tie-break, before Hruthik Katakam retired early in the second set. Harshini Nagaraj played a steady game to beat the strongly-built Snigdha Kanta in three sets for the girls title.
London Games medallist Yogeshwar Dutt was the chief guest and presented the trophies along with the Chairman and Managing Director of DCM Shriram, Ajay Shriram, the Davis Cup captain Rohit Rajpal, Business Head of Fenesta, Saket Jain, along with Balram Singh and Anil Gupta.
The results (finals): Men: Manish Sureshkumar bt Keerthivassan Suresh 6-4, 6-2.
Doubles (final): Nitin Kumar Sinha & Maan Kesharwani bt Manish Sureshkumar & Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 6-4, 3-6, [10-5].
Women: Vaishnavi Adkar bt Akanksha Nitture 6-1, 6-2.
Under-18, boys: Tavish Pahwa bt Hruthik Katakam 7-6(2), 1-0 (retired). Girls: Harshini Nagaraj bt Snigdha Kanta 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
Published – October 05, 2025 08:10 am IST
