Date:28/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/28/stories/2008112852941900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Vishnu in semifinals

Principal Correspondent

KOLKATA: Vishnu Vardhan reached the semifinals of the $15,000 ITF men’s Futures tennis tournament, here on Thursday.

Vishnu remained the lone Indian survivor in the singles main draw as his compatriot Rupesh Roy lost to top seed Alexander Satschko of Germany in straight sets.

Aiming to realise his first Futures’ final, the National grasscourt champion Vishnu now faces Satschko in the last-four stage.

Vishnu beat compatriot Rohan Gajjar 6-3, 6-4 for a place in the semifinals. On the other hand, Rupesh was no match for the German as he lost to 6-2, 7-5.

The results (prefix denotes seeding, all Indians unless specified): Singles: Quarterfinals: 1-Alexander Satschko (Ger) bt Rupesh Roy 6-2, 7-5; Vishnu Vardhan bt Rohan Gajjar 6-3, 6-4; 3-David Savic (Srb) bt 6-Daniel Lustig (Cze) 6-3, retd.; 2-Nathan Thompson (USA) bt Rifat Biktyakov (Uzb) 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles: Semifinals: 4-Rupesh Roy & Sunil Kumar Sipaeya bt Rohan Gajjar & Purav Raja 3-6, 6-1, 10-5; 2-David Savic (Srb) & Nathan Thompson (USA) bt Alexander Satschko & Marc-Andre Stratling 3-6, 7-5, 10-6.