The Hindu : Sandeep upsets Rishi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 18, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sandeep upsets Rishi

MUMBAI APRIL 17. Losers picking up a game or two and on odd occasions three, is a commonplace event in the second round matches of a tennis tournament. It was much the same — routine and mundane — in the Gannon Dunkerley co-sponsored Rs. 2,50,000 prize money Khar Gymkhana All India men's Open tennis championship on Wednesday.

Those who persisted pocketed a few more points for an extra game. They lost any way as more than half of the pre-quarterfinal matches indicate.

But there were a handful of players who buckled down to a task, beat fancied players to introduce the element of surprises and upsets in the tournament proper on the second day. Rishi Sridhar's defeat at the hands of Sandeep Kirtane must be put down as an upset, because the Tamil Nadu player was seeded No. 3 behind Nitin Kirtane and Vinod Sridhar.

Sandeep Kirtane, the last year's runner-up was awarded a wild card. He routed Mayur Vasant 6-0, 6-0 in the first round on Tuesday and on Wednesday evening, he took in his stride Rishi Sridhar. Karnataka's Ajay C. D. had his moments after three hard fought sets against the No. 6 seed from Maharashtra Vijayendra Lad. Qualifier Amod Wakalkar put his best foot forward to record an easy 6-3, 6-4 win over Maharashtra's No. 7 seed Nipun Gupta.

The results: Men's singles: (Pre-quarter-finals): Nitin Kirtane (Mah - 1) bt Kunal Bhojwani (Mah) 6-3, 6-1; Amod Wakalkar (Mah) bt Nipun Gupta (Mah -7) 6-3, 6-4; Punna Vishal (AP - 4) bt Benjamin Xavier (Mah) 6-1, 6-2; Vasudev Reddy (AP - 5) bt Saurabh Kohli (Mah) 6- 2, 6-3; Yaseer Arafat (AP - 8) bt Arjun Vaidya (Mah) 6-2, 6-1; Ajay C. D (Knt) bt Vijayendra Lad (Mah - 6) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, Sandeep Kirtane (Mah ) bt Rishi Sridhar (TN - 3) 6-3, 6-4.

First round: Sandeep Kirtane (Mah) bt Mayur Vasant (Mah) 6-0, 6-0.

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