Shanker Heisnam and Rian Sharma stormed into the boys’ singles U-18 semi-finals during the ongoing AITA National Series Tennis Tournament being played at the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association Stadium on Thursday.

Playing in the boys’ singles U-18 quarter-finals, seventh seed Shanker of CLTA defeated his practice partner Bhicky Sagolshem 6-0, 7-5. Shanker won the first set 6-0 without conceding a single game.

In the second set, both players played good quality tennis and Bhicky was leading 5-3, Shanker came back strongly and took the next three games in a row to close the second set and match 7-5. Top seed Rian Sharma defeated Aryan Jolly of Haryana 6-2, 6-1 without getting much resistance. Sixth seed Shivam Devam of Haryana upset third seed Ashwajit Senjam in a three-setter match.

In the girls’ U-18 singles quarter-finals, fourth seed Rubani Kaur Sidhu of CLTA won from Jasmine Rawat of Haryana 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-5. In another quarter-final match, Vamika Sharma of Delhi upset 11th seed Sidhak Kaur 6-0, 6-3 in straight sets. Vibha and Dhatri also advanced into the semi-finals.