Thane, November 17: A semblance of sense prevailed on the first day of the main draw of men and women singles as all top eight seeds in both sections went through the motions, mostly without much struggle, in the 11Sports National Ranking Championships (West) for the Mayor Cup at the Dadoji Konddev Stadium here today.

However, No. 1 seed Arjun Ghosh and No. 2 seed Anthony Amalraj, who were taken some distance by two qualifiers—Jignesh Rahatwal of Maharashtra and Kiranjoy Pushilal of West Bengal—as Arjun and Anthony moved into the round of 32, much to everybody’s relief.

Arjun, drawn in the first quarter, had a 2-1 lead but the Maharashtra lad came back strong to level score to put some self-doubts into the top seed’s mind. But the AAI employee went on the cruise mode to complete the job rather quickly, taking the next two games (11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4).

Similarly, in the last quarter, Amalraj was comfortably placed when he went 3-1 up, nicely controlling the match. But his loss in the sixth game to the West Bengal qualifier made the PSPB paddler jittery and it was visible in the next game as he struggled to pull himself out of a tight situation and win it on extended points (11-4, 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 8-11, 14-12).

Third-seed Manav Thakkar very quickly shut out his opponent, Ali Mohammad of Telangana for a 11-3, 7-11, 11-3, 11-5, 11-9 verdict while No. 4 seed Raj Mondal went about his task clinically to beat Nitin hiruvengadam of Canara Bank 11-7, 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7. Local lad Sanil Shetty, seeded fifth, was quick enough to dispose of Rohit Chakraborty of LIC 11-5, 11-3, 12-10, 14-12 despite some resistance coming in the last two games.

The other seeds, Sushmit Sriram AAI, Sougata Sarkar of LIC and Abishek Yadav of PSPB advanced without much trouble.

With the top four seeds in women singles yet to make an appearance—they enjoyed first-round byes—the other four seeded players, who had to play their first round matches, made mincemeat of their opponents to progress.

But it was pathetic to see Reeth Rishya, once a very promising PSPB paddler, bow out to junior paddler Prpati Sen as the West Bengal youngster beat her  14-12, 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 11-9 without a fight in the first round. So timid was her approach to the match that Prapti was all over her. Anindita Chakraborty of Railways also went down to Naina of Telangana 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 8-11, 11-13. Normally, the veteran never gives in so easily but despite her fight the Telangana girl proved too good for her on the day.

Both the men and women paddlers play their round of 32 tonight and what is in store for them tomorrow is in the realm of conjecture.

Meanwhile, main draw matches got underway in Junior Boys and Girls as their finals are slated for tomorrow evening.

Results:

Women Singles: (Round 64): Ishita Gupa bt Shweta Parte 5-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-7, 14-16, 11-6; Shruti Amrute bt Deepika Neelakandan 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4; Krittwika Sinha Roy bt Frenaz Chipia 11-7, 11-7, 14-12, 13-11; Naina bt Anindita Chakraborty 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8, 13-11; Nikhat Banu bt Sataporni De 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9; Selenadeepth Selvakumar bt Jiya Jain 12-10, 6-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8; Ankita Das bt Ruchira Manerkar 11-8, 11-8, 11-3, 11-2; Sreeja Akula bt Soumi Mondal 8-11, 1-4, 11-9, 11-9, 11-1; Anuska Dutta bt Anannya Basak 11-9, 11-3, 11-8, 4-11, 11-5; Yashini Sivasankar bt Manasi Chiplunkar 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 11-9; Mouma Das bt Pranitha Garlapati 11-7, 11-5, 11-3, 11-7; Prapti Sen bt ReethRishya 14-12, 11-8, 1-11, 11-8, 11-9; Moumita Datta bt Shailu Noorbasha 11-8, 11-5, 11-4, 12-10; Srushti Haleangadi bt Vanshika Bhargava 9-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-0, 11-4; Harshavardhini bt Charvi Kawle 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5; Manushree Patil bt Namna Jayswal 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-4; Ayhika Mukherjee bt Riti Shankar 11-7, 11-6, 12-14, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9; Poulami Ghatak bt Vidya Narasimha 11-4, 16-14, 8-11, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9; Pallabi Kundu bt Oishwarya Deb 11-5,9-11, 17-15, 11-6, 4-11, 5-11, 11-3; Sagarika Mukherjee bt Kushi Viswanath 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 11-5; Divya Deshpande bt Mariya Rony 12-10, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; Mousumi Paul bt Prithika Sengupta 11-6, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7; Swetha Kumaravel bt Sanya Sehgal 11-6, 2-11, 8-11, 11-4, 12-10, 11-8; Mamata Prabhu bt Kaushani Nath 9-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-7, 11-4; Amrutha Pushpak bt Puja Paul 7-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-8, 11-9’ Priyadarsini Das bt Srishti Gupta 11-9, 13-11, 15-13, 13-11; Shreya Ghosh bt Fatena Kadri 11-5, 11-5, 13-11 11-5; Ansha Kutumbale bt Kausha Bhairapure 9-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7.