Seeded players, including third seed Prakash Amritraj, fifth seed Harsh Mankad and sixth seed Sunil Kumar Sipaeya sailed into the men's singles quarter-finals in the US $15,000 prize-money MSLTA-ITF Futures tournament at the Ranade Centre in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Fast-serving Indian Davis Cupper Amritraj, son of Indian tennis legend Vijay, rallied magnificently after dropping the first set to pip qualifier Vinod Sridhar of India 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in an hour and 30 minutes while his Indian team mate Mankad crushed wild card Stephen Amritraj of the United States 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 14 minutes.
Sipaeya needed a first set tie-break to sideline unseeded American Lester Cook 7-6(8-6), 6-4 in an hour and 30 minutes to move into the last eight stage.
Also moving up were top seed David Sherwood of Britain, second seed Simon Greul of Germany, giant-killer Vishal Uppal of India, unseeded Englishman Michael Ouvarov and Karan Rastogi.
Sherwood subdued qualifier Vivek Shokeen 6-2, 6-3 in 51 minutes, Greul sidelined unseeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in 61 minutes, Uppal needed a first set tie-break to pip Ajay Ramaswami, Ouvarov stream rolled unseeded Ashkan Shokoofi of Iran 7-5, 6-3 while
Rastogi downed unseeded Murad Inoyatov of Uzbekistan 6-2, 7-5.
Prakash Amritraj, the fastest serving player in the tournament, started off in fine fashion, breaking Sridhar in the second game, but the Chennai-based Sridhar came back strongly with a break in the very next game.
However, Sridhar broke Amritraj twice again, in the fourth and sixth games, but served poorly and dropped his own serve in the fifth and seventh games to lose the advantage before coming up with the crucial break in the ninth game to win the set 6-4.
Amritraj served and returned better in the second set, and with breaks in the fourth and eighth games pocketed the second set 6-2.
In the decider, it was Amritraj all the way as he let his opponent win just one game off his serve before he himself served out the match at 6-1.
Prakash's cousin Stephen, son of former Indian doubles specialist Anand, was no match for a much fitter and faster Mankad.
The Mumbai-based Mankad broke Stephen in the first and fifth games to win the set 6-2 and with a crucial break in the ninth game of the second set wrapped the match at 6-4.
The Sipaeya-Cook match was quite interesting. The Indian was at the receiving end after dropping serve in the third game but came up with a break in the eighth to make it 4-all and force the tie-break.
In the tie-break, Sipaeya was placed comfortably with a 4-1 lead before Cook came up with some breathtaking shots to catch up with his rival at 6-all, but the Indian recovered in time to win the tie-break 8-6.
In the second set, the Delhi-based Sipaeya got an early break in the fifth game and never looked back to win the match.
Results:
Men's singles (pre-quarter-finals): Prakash Amritraj (Ind) bt Vinod Sridhar (Ind) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; Harsh Mankad (Ind) bt Stephen Amritraj (USA) 6-2, 6-4; Vishal Uppal (Ind) bt Ajay Ramaswami (Ind) 7-6(9-7), 6-3; Sunil Kumar Sipaeya (Ind) bt Lester Cook (USA) 7-6(8-6), 6-4; David Sherwood (GBR) bt Vivek Shokeen (Ind) 6-2, 6-3; Karan Rastogi (Ind) bt Murad Inoyatov (Uzb) 6-2, 7-5; Michael Ouvarov (GBR) bt Ashkan Shokoofi (Iran) 7-5, 6-3; Simon Greul (Ger) bt Denis Istomin (Uzb) 6-4 6-3.
