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Srinath, Mankad in last four of ITF Satellite

Top seed Prahlad Srinath of India and Alexandre Sikanov of Russia won in contrasting styles to storm into the semi-finals of the ITF men's Satellite Tennis Tournament in Bangalore today.

While Srinath had to wage a fightback, after being a set down, to get the better of Shivshankar Kambargimath 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, Derepasco won without breaking a sweat. His opponent Steven Bourke of Australia retired after complaining of stomach problems when trailing 0-5 in the first set.

Former junior national champion Harsh Mankad continued his fine run in the tournament, cruising into the semis with an overwhelming 7-5, 6-3 victory over Ravikiran Bhat of Karnataka. The other quarter-final is between Vinod Sridhar and Saurav Panja.

Yesterday, Mankad had quelled a stiff challenge from unseeded Anton Kokurin of Uzbekisthan 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, in the longest match of the tournament which lasted 137 minutes.

Srinath, who started tentatively, lost the first set after being broken in the second and eighth games. Though he tried to bridge a 0-3 gap by breaking Shivshankar in the fifth game to reduce the deficit to 2-3, Shivshankar served and returned with aplomb to go one set up.

Yesterday, qualifier Saurav Panja of India created a major upset, defeating sixth seed Dimitri Mazur of Uzbekisthan 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, to storm into the quarter-finals.

Panja, the 22-year-old Calcutta-based youngster, played with agression, moving up to the net on every available opportunity, to put paid to the aspirations of the Uzbekh in just over 90 minutes.

Panja took the first set, which saw as many as five service games being broken. He held the upperhand, with three service breaks, in the third, fifth and seventh games, to take the set 6-3. He lost on his serve in the fourth and eighth games.
Mazur fought back in the second set, cashing on some lapses in concentration by Panja and won the set 6-2. He got breaks in first, third and seventh games.

The decider saw the two players wage a grim battle, but Panja, basically a serve and volley player, wrested the upperhand with the new balls helping him immensly. Panja levelled at 4-4 by breaking Mazur, and again broke him in the tenth to take the set and the match 6-4.

Minh Le of the United States failed to stretch Prahlad Srinath. The top seeded Indian former Davis Cupper needed just 59 minutes to thrash le 6-2, 6-2. Srinath raced to a 5-2 lead breaking le thrice and easily served out to win the first set and held sway in the second with a 4-0 lead with two breaks and won with ease.

UNI