Date:29/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/29/stories/2008062956181500.htm

Sport - Tennis

Mankad loses

NEW DELHI: Unseeded Harsh Mankad had an impressive run, as he beat quality players including the top seed, before he was stopped by a 6-3, 6-4 defeat in the final by the second-seeded Conor Niland of Ireland in the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at Limerick, Ireland.

Harsh had beaten the third-seeded Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3) in the semifinals. He had also accounted for the No.1 seed Thomas Oger of France with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 triumph in the pre-quarterfinals.

Nielsen had beaten Purav Raja 6-1, 6-1 in the second round. Two other Indians, Navdeep Singh and Ashutosh Singh were unable to cross the first round. However, Ashutosh in partnership with Harsh made the doubles semifinals before being beaten 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 10-8 by the top-seeded Michel Koenig of the Netherlands and Frederiek Nielsen of Denmark.

Purav and Navdeep had a heart-breaking 7-6(3), 5-7, 12-14 defeat in the pre-quarterfinals to Ioan-Alexandru Cojanu of Romania and Shane La Porte of the U.S.