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Kirtane cousins score contrasting victories

Promising junior Vijay Kannan staged a grand fightback to get the better of Anand Radhakrishnan 6-3, 6-7(8), 6-1 and make the pre-quarter-finals of the MTNL Indian Satellite Masters Tennis tournament in New Delhi today. He meets Artem Derepasko, of Russia, the winner of the Bombay leg of the ITF circuit, next.

Joining Kanan in the round of 16 were the Kirtane cousins, Sandeep and Nitin, who posted contrasting victories. Sandeep breezed past Ravi-Kiran Bhat 6-3, 6-1, to set up a meeting with Pralhad Srinath, the top seed and winner of the Bangalore and Delhi legs, while Nitin was taken to three sets by Rohan Bopanna before winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. He meets seventh-seeded Minh Le of the United States in the next round.

Two young Australians held the spotlight in the opening round this morning. Ashley Ford and Steven Bourke battled for close to three hours before the former could win at 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-6 (8). Ford meets third-seeded Syed Fazaluddin, who lost to Srinath in the final of the Delhi leg last Saturday, in the pre-quarter-finals.

In other first round matches, Vishal Uppal ousted countryman Shailesh Dhoble 7-5, 6-1 to set up a clash with fourth seeded Harsh Mankad, while Uzbek, Dimitri Mazur beat Manoj Mahadevan 6-4, 5-7, 6-0. He meets his countryman, sixth-seeded Anton Kokurin in the pre-quarter-finals.

Others to make the pre-quarter-finals were: Vijendra Laad and Vasudeva Reddy. Vijendra defeated Mustafa Ghouse 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, while Reddy ousted Russian Andrei Youznyi 6-3, 6-4. Vijendra clashes with eighth-seeded Shivashanker Kambargimath, while Reddy meets fifth-seeded Vinod Sridhar.

Agencies