Date:15/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/15/stories/2008051560972300.htm

Sport - Tennis

Colin Ebelthite tames Ashutosh Singh

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Colin Ebelthite of Australia scotched the Indian hopes as he beat Ashutosh Singh 6-4, 6-4 in the pre-quarterfinals of the SAIL Open $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.

For one who had not dropped serve over three tough sets in the first round, Ashutosh was unable to sustain his strong game and got broken in the seventh game of the first set and the ninth game of the second against the fleet-footed Aussie who had won a series of Futures events this season.

Hold up in play

A dust-storm and a heavy spell of rain in combination with gusts of wind stopped the proceedings for three hours and 25 minutes at deuce on Ashutosh’s serve in the first game of the second set.

The intervention did not change his fortunes as the local wild card had to eventually be content with five ATP points and $860.

There was more heart-break for Ashutosh as he lost the doubles quarterfinals in partnership with Harsh Mankad later in the evening, against the pair Prakash Amritraj and Rajeev Ram.

Ashutosh and Harsh broke Prakash in the first game of the second set after having lost the first set 2-6.

But Ashutosh dropped the game while serving for the second set in the tenth game and the pair lost grip over the proceedings.

Rohan Gajjar and Purav Raja defeated the third-seeded Brendan Evans and Mustafa Ghouse to keep the Indian hopes alive, albeit only in the doubles.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Al Ghareeb of Kuwait capitalised on the wild card to make the quarterfinals, as he knocked out the sixth-seeded Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan in straight sets.

The results:

Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) bt Thomas Oger (Fra) 6-3, 7-5; Colin Ebelthite (Aus) bt Ashutosh Singh 6-4, 6-4; Go Soeda (Jpn) bt Guillermo Alcaide (Esp) 6-4, 6-4; Mohammed Al Ghareeb (Kuw) bt Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-4, 7-6(5); Alex Bogdanovic (GBR) bt Nick Lindahl (Aus) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2; Kristian Pless (Den) bt Ilia Marchenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(5); Brendan Evans (USA) bt Adam Feeney (Aus) 6-4, 6-4; Samuel Groth (Aus) bt Travis Rettenmaier (US) 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Rajeev Ram (USA) & Prakash Amritraj bt Harsh Mankad and Ashutosh Singh 6-2, 7-6(3); Rohan Gajjar & Purav Raja bt Brendan Evans (USA) & Mustafa Ghouse 6-4, 6-3.