Date:12/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/12/stories/2008091256611800.htm

Sport - Tennis

Prajnesh powers into last four

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Prajnesh Gunneswaran continued to keep his strong game on display as he powered past second-seeded Yuichi Sugita of Japan 7-6(4), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the PNB $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Thursday.

Vignesh loses to Aqeel

In emerging as the lone Indian in the semifinals, as P.C. Vignesh was unable to provide the finishing touch in a quality fare against Aqeel Khan of Pakistan that spanned three hours and 27 minutes, the 18-year-old Prajnesh asserted that he was indeed a class apart.

Though he did drop serve twice in the first set more because of his impetuosity to go for the big shots, Prajnesh eventually rode on his big serves and explosive groundstrokes to outplay the opponent.

He will meet Aqeel who missed three setpoints at 6-3 in the tie-break after a 5-2 lead in the set earlier, but relied on his rich experience at this level to pull it off against the hard-working Vignesh.

The other semifinal will feature, the top-seeded Peter Gojowczyk of Germany against the sixth-seeded Hsin-Han Lee of Chinese Taipei. In the doubles, the top-seeded Ashutosh Singh and Sunil Kumar set up a repeat final against the champions of last week Divij Sharan and Vishnu Vardhan.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) bt Rupesh Roy 6-2, 6-2; Hsin-Han Lee (Tpe) bt Sunil Kumar 6-1, 6-2; Aqeel Khan (Pak) bt P.C. Vignesh 6-7(6), 6-4, 7-5; Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 7-6(4), 6-4.

Doubles (semifinals): Ashutosh Singh & Sunil Kumar bt Peter Gojowczyk (Ger) & Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) 7-5, 6-3; Divij Sharan & Vishnu Vardhan bt Mithun Murali & Yannick Nelord 4-6, 6-2, 10-5.