Prakash beats Sipaeya in Futures quater-final

Chandigarh, May 31 (UNI) Better stamina and strokeplay clinched the issue in favour of 817th ranked Prakash Amritraj who ended the aspirations of local favourite and third seed left-handed 655th ranked Sunil Kumar Sipaeya in the quarter-final singles match of the SAIL $ 10,000+ Hospitality ITF Men's Futures Tennis Tournament here today.

All four quarter-final matches were decided in three sets each.

Prakash snuffed out the spirited challenge of Sunil, a former trainee of CLTA Rural Scheme, in three sets played at court number three 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2 in two hours and 41 minutes.

Both players fired six aces each. Sunil committed nine double faults and Prakash six.

On Court Number 2, fourth seeded Vijay Kannan (739th ranked) was stretched to three sets by wild card and 1245th ranked Tushar Liberhan, a former CLTA trainee. In a 125-minute of good tennis, Vijay won 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Tushar displayed bad tamper in the third set (2-4) as he hit the ball in the stands after committing a double fault and break of serve. Tushar made three double faults in the sixth game. In all he committed seven double faults and served a solitary ace. Big server Vijay fired eight aces.

Top seeded Karan Rastogi (398th), highest ranked player in the field, was also extended to three sets by unseeded and 882nd ranked Purav Raja on Centre Court No. 1. Down by one set, Rastogi bounced back into the game with vengeance to record a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory in two hours and 23 minutes.

Later on the centre court, 982nd ranked and unseeded Vishal Punna, who had yesterday upset second seeded Vivek Shokeen, today shocked seventh seed Aditya Madkekar 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 59 minutes.

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