Kukreja stuns Khatri

Unseeded Sunil Kukreja of Maharashtra rallied to a thrilling second set tie-breaker win over fourth seed Naresh Khatri of Rajasthan to storm into the mens 45+ quarter-finals,in the Rs. 3 lakh All India Open Ranking Veterans Tennis Tournament,organized and hosted by Khar Gymkhana,on Tuesday.

Unseeded Sunil Kukreja of Maharashtra rallied to a thrilling second set tie-breaker win over fourth seed Naresh Khatri of Rajasthan to storm into the mens 45+ quarter-finals,in the Rs. 3 lakh All India Open Ranking Veterans Tennis Tournament,organized and hosted by Khar Gymkhana,on Tuesday.

Trailing 1-4 in the opening set and 0-3 in the second,Kukreja staged a brilliant recovery to overcome the favourite 7-5,7-6 (7-4) in an exciting contest that lasted a marathon two hours.

Kukreja set the trend for a slew of upsets as the underdogs took away the honours. In another upset in the same category,MSLTA coach Manoj Vaidya of Maharashtra halted seventh seed K.V. Srinivasa Rao of Andhra Pradesh 6-1,6-0 to set up a quarter-final clash against Kukreja.

In contrast,second seed Arun Kantimahanthu of Andhra Pradesh eased past Vijay Desai of Maharashtra 6-1,6-3 in the pre-quarter-finals.

In other upsets of the day,unseeded Kishore Sabnani of Maharashtra stunned second seed T.S. Gambhir of Delhi 6-0,6-1,while unseeded Amarjeet Singh Chadha of Rajasthan shocked sixth seed B.R. Choudhuri of Maharashtra 6-0,6-1,to enter the 55+ quarter-finals. In the same category,Khar Gymkhanas Tolu Devnani,who shocked fifth seed Ghanshyam Patel in a marathon two-hour opening round on Monday,endured another gruelling three-hour battle to overcome unseeded compatriot Moti Shewaramani 4-6,7-6 (7-5),6-4 in an exciting pre-quarter-finals. The other significant 55+ pre-quarter-final winners were top seed Ramesh Ramakrishna of Kerala,third seed Dipak Kumar Chakma of Tamil Nadu and No. 4 Ajeet Bhardwaj of Delhi.

Results: Men 55+ (PQF): 1-Ramesh Ramakrishna (Ker) bt Dhaval Patel (Mah) 6-2,6-2; Amarjeet Singh Chadha (Raj) bt 6-B.R. Choudhuri (Mah) 6-0,6-1; 3-Dipak Kumar Chakma (TN) bt Pradeep Dharnidhar (Mah) 6-0,6-1; N.V. Gajjar (Mah) bt Pravin Kumar Kulte (Mah) 6-4,6-3; Tolu Devnani (Mah) bt Moti Shewaramani (Mah) 4-6,7-6 (5),6-4; 4-Ajeet Bhardwaj (Del) bt Dhananjay Sumant (Mah) 6-2,6-3; Mahendra Likhite (Mah) bt P.R. Raju (Mah) 6-0,6-1; Kishore Sabnani (Mah) bt 2-T.S. Gambhir (Del) 6-0,6-1. Men 45+ (PQF): Manoj Vaidya (Mah) bt 7-K.V. Srinivasa Rao (AP) 6-1,6-0; 2-Arun Kantimahanthu (AP) bt Vijay Desai (Mah) 6-1,6-3; Sunil Kukreja (Mah) bt 4-Naresh Khatri (Raj) 7-5,7-6 (4); A.K. Saxena (Mah) bt Surendra Bhavnani (Mah) 6-0,6-0; Haresh Ahuja (Mah) bt Sunil Lalchandani (Mah) 6-3,6-4. Men 65+ (1st Rd): V. Surendran (AP) bt Homi Treasurywala (Mah) 6-2,6-3; Shyam Bhagat (Mah) bt Jaswant Singh (Mah) 6-0,6-0; M.A. Limaye (Mah) bt Dr. Rajgopal Basangar (Mah) 6-3,6-4; Thakurdas Jagwani (Mah) bt L. Tikamdas (Mah) 6-0,6-3; Subhash Mukherji (Mah) bt A.S. Chaughule (Mah) 6-0,6-1.

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Kukreja stuns Khatri

Unseeded Sunil Kukreja of Maharashtra rallied to a thrilling second set tie-breaker win over fourth seed Naresh Khatri of Rajasthan to storm into the mens 45+ quarter-finals,in the Rs. 3 lakh All India Open Ranking Veterans Tennis Tournament,organized and hosted by Khar Gymkhana,on Tuesday.

Unseeded Sunil Kukreja of Maharashtra rallied to a thrilling second set tie-breaker win over fourth seed Naresh Khatri of Rajasthan to storm into the mens 45+ quarter-finals,in the Rs. 3 lakh All India Open Ranking Veterans Tennis Tournament,organized and hosted by Khar Gymkhana,on Tuesday.