Vishal Uppal shocks Ghouse
to enter final

Unseeded Vishal Uppal sprang his third surprise in as many days, shocking second seed Mustafa Ghouse 6-4, 6-3 to enter the final in the Indian Oil Servo ITF Satellite Masters tennis tournament in Bangalore on Thursday.

The 25-year-old former Davis Cupper from Delhi was in superb form and virtually waltzed past Ghouse, who had won the title in the second leg of the satellite circuit in Mumbai, in an hour and 13 minutes.

Uppal, who had upset fourth seed Israel Eliran Dooyev and seventh seeded Spaniard Rafael Moreno-Negri on his way to the last four, broke in the fifth game of the first set, and fifth and ninth games of the second, to emerge victorious.

In the title round, at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association courts on Friday, Uppal, who won the doubles title later in the day, partnering Nitin Kirtane, will take on sixth seeded Vijay Kannan, who played his heart out against unseeded Tomer Suissa of Israel.

Kannan came from behind to end the giant-killing spree of Suissa, winning at 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), in an exciting encounter. Both players fought hard for each point in the third set. Kannan held his nerve in the tie-breaker to move into the title round.

Asked as to how he would rate his chances against Uppal in the final, Kannan said: "It would be anybody's game.... whoever serves well, will win."

Kannan said he and Uppal had an even record, with both beating each other same number of times.

The top seeded pair of Nitin Kirtane and Uppal won the doubles title, beating second seeds Mustafa Ghouse and Vijay Kannan 7-6(7-3), 6-3 in the final.

It was, in a way, a consolation victory for Kirtane. Top-seeded in the singles, he had crashed out in the pre-quarters.

The 28-year-old Kirtane had won the Delhi and Visakhapatnam legs of the Satellite series.

Earlier reports
Vishal Uppal ousts fourth seed Dooyev
Nitin Kirtane crashes out
Mahadevan struggles to get past Vishal Punna