Rastogi plays well but loses to Nadal

Chennai, Jan 4 (UNI) On a day in which Indian challenge ended with a 'forget-me-not' effort by wild card entrant Karan Rastogi, quarter finalists were spotted in the Chennai Open ATP world tour tennis event here late tonight.

Rastogi, the flag-bearer of the future of Indian tennis as predicted by legendary Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan, put up a brave face in the first set before succumbing to World Number two Rafael Nadal of Spain 4-6, 1-6, to bow out of contention, but not without winning the hearts of the packed crowd, which rooted for the Indian.

With this victory, Nadal, who showered encomiums on the rising Indian star, moved into the last eight where he would meet unseeded Italian David Sanguinetti. The Italian caused a mild flutter lowering the colours of eighth seed Nicolas Mahut of France in a prolonged encounter before winning 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3 on the outside court.

Braving a back spasm that made Fabrice Santoro to pull out of doubles, the French journeyman mustered enough courage to defeat Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal clash with third seed Xaiver Malisse of Belgium, who won yesterday.

Meanwhile, the big serving Austrian Strefan Koubek upset the apple cart of Asian star and seventh seeded Paradorn Srichaphan to register a 6-1, 6-2 win. The Austrian would meet fourth seed Julien Benneteau of France who overcame a tight first set against unseeded Igor Andreev of Russia to score a 7-6(4), 6-2 win.

The other quarterfinal would be between two-time champion and last year runner-up Carlos Moya of Spain and the tallest player in the circuit Iva Karlovic of Croatia, who won their second round matches yesterday.

(ED: Pick up suitably from earlier series).

UNI