Favourites Chandril,Bhambri go down to make exit

Unseeded Shahbaaz Khan of Maharashtra pulled off another upset by shocking second seed Prateek Bhambri of Delhi in evenly contested three sets 7-5,6-7 (5),6-1 in the second semi-final which lasted for three hours. Khan claimed the first set with a narrow margin of 7-5 before losing the second set in tie-break with a margin of 6-7 (5). Khan showed complete dominance in the third set routing Bhambri with a margin of 6-1 to march into the final.

In the women’s section,local qualifier Mehak Singh will face lucky loser Aishwarya Aggarwal of Madhya Pradesh in the final on Friday.

Qualifier Mehak Singh took four hours to snuff out the spirited challenge of qualifier Bhuvana K. of Andhra Pradesh in a sea-saw battle in the women’s singles semi-final and emerged as the winner with a 6-1,4-6,6-4 win. Singh claimed the first set with a margin of 6-1 before losing the second set with a margin of 4-6. The third set saw Singh displaying a superb game coupled with volleys as Singh claimed the third set with a margin of 6-4 to march into the final. In the second semi-final lucky loser Aishwarya Agarwal outplayed qualifier Sowjanya Bavisetti in straight sets 6-2,6-2.

Results:

Women : Singles : Semi-final : Q-Mehak Singh (CHD) bt Q-Bhuvana K. (AP) 6-1,4-6,6-4,LL Aishwarya Aggarwal (MP) bt Q-Sowjanya Bavisetti 6-2,6-2. Men: Singles : 3-Vignesh Veerbhadran (TN) bt 1-Chandril Sood (UP) 6-4,7-6 (5),Shahbaaz Khan (MAH) bt 2-Prateek Bhambri (DLI) 7-5,6-7 (5),6-1; Women: Doubles : Aishwarya Agarwal (MP)/Natasha Palha (MAH) bt Jilke Nelord (DLI)/Renuka Keswani (DLI) 6-4,6-1,Garima Vatwani (DLI)/Sowjanya Bavisetti (AP) bt 3-Anushree Thamnna (KAR)/Dipti Srivastava (WB) 6-2,6-4; Men : Doubles : 1-Saurav Panja (WB)/Manoj Sewa (WB) bt Monal Chillar (HAR)/Rubal Shandilya (MAH) 6-1,6-1,2- Prateek Bhambri (DLI)/Yogesh Phogat (HAR,HSIIDC) bt Digvijay S. Mehta (HP)/Shahbaaz Khan (MAH) 4-6,6-2,11-9.