Sai Teja, Gautam crash out

Mumbai, Feb 22 (UNI) Second seed Sai Teja of Andhra Pradesh and No. 3 Gautam Thakre of Maharashtra were shocked on a dramatic day of upsets in the 10th Wilson-Wodehouse Gymkhana All India National Ranking Championship Series Tennis Tournament at the Wodehouse Gymkhana, Cooperage here today.

Karan Avlani gave the day an explosive start for the unseeded players when he crushed Teja 6-0, 6-4 in a surprisingly one-sided tie to storm into the quarter-finals.

In contrast, qualifier Milind Seth overcame the formidable Thakre 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a marathon pre-quarter-final encounter that lasted just over two hours. Practennis lad Seth ignored the loss of the opening set to stage a remarkable recovery before sealing a memorable win.

Alla Abhishek of Andhra Pradesh added to the woes of the seeds when he knocked out No. 7 Saurabh Raghuvanshi of Maharashtra 6-4, 6-4 in another pre-quarter-final.

Wild card Shiv Nikam continued his winning streak when he beat unseeded Saiyam Wakchure 6-3, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals in an all-Maharashtra contest.

Nikam enjoyed a rewarding day when he teamed up with Saurabh Patil to upset second seeds Gautam Thakre and Anuj Chajjed 6-3, 6-7 (7-4), 12-10 in a two-hour tie to enter the boys semi-finals.

Girls top seed Shweta Rana of Delhi led the other seeds into the semi-finals following easy wins in the last eight round.

Results: Boys (pre-quarter-finals): Rakshay Thakkar (Mah) bt Kaushal Mehta (Mah) 6-3, 6-1; Shiv Nikam (Mah) bt Saiyam Wakchure (Mah) 6-3, 6-1; Vishwesh Sinha (Mah) bt Vishal Passi (Mah) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Parth Shah (Mah) bt Hadin Bawa (Mah) 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); Arjun Khade (Mah) bt Ryoto Tachi (Mah) 7-5, 6-2; Milind Seth (Mah) bt Gautam Thakre (Mah) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Alla Abhishek (AP) bt Saurabh Raghuvanshi (Mah) 6-4, 6-4; Karan Avlani (Mah) bt Sai Teja (AP) 6-0, 6-4.

Girls (Quarter-finals): Shweta Rana (Del) bt Vaidehi Bhagwat (Mah) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3; Sadgi Rajani (Guj) bt Prarthana Thombare (Mah) 6-0, 6-2; Madhuri Pathere (Mah) bt Sayali Patil (Mah) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-0; Natalia Khanejo (Mah) bt Estelle Mehta (Mah) 6-1, 6-2.

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