Devanand enters semi-finals

In boys – 18 action, Kartik Vatsal pulled off a creditable 6-1, 6-3 win against Vivian Chhetri even as Rahul Giri, on an adjacent court, sent fourth seeded Bhupesh Pandey out of the tournament in three sets. Later, Shivnandan Singh kept things simple and made none of his earlier second serve blunders on his way to an upset win against second seed Gurmehar Singh while Lalit Mohan’s match, poised at one set all, was postponed due to rain.

Though the girls matches went into the final round without any surprises, the boys under – 12 quarters saw one upset as Jitin Bishnoi knocked out Vipin Gupta 9-6. Top seeded Siddharth Gulati and third seeded Gaurav Verma took the easy route into the semis.

Neha Phalper and Sonali Kapoor will clash in the girls under-14 final while Vishika Chhetri and Itishree will meet in the under-18 title round. Both Vishika and Itishree, afflicted by second set blues, played extended three set matches. Vishika took out Utkalika Badu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, while Itishree fought off a determined bid from Poornima Narayanan 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.