Ismail shocks Zaman

Initially, he kept Sunil pinned to the baseline and engaged him in long rallies. Sunil was playing his men’s second round match an hour after a two-and-a-half set win over Karan Doctor in the under-18 section. He was leading 3-0 in the third when Doctor conceded because of a torn calf muscle.

Anyway, in this match, Sunil quickly took the first three games breaking the older boy in the second, before Shivshankar held the next two. It was too late anyway, as Sunil wrapped up the set. In the second, Sunil swept the first three games and allowed Shivshankar to hold one before breaking himagain in game six and then finishing the seventh and the match with an ace.

Sunil says it is his policy never to give up. An instance in today’s game against Shivshankar is a case in point. He made an acrobatic dive practically parallel to the ground in an attempt to get to a shot that few others would have attempted — or wanted to try. Though he didn’t get to the ball, he lay still for a few seconds, got up, smiled and went on playing, and then proceeded to break serve.

He will next play Asif Ismail, who created a mini-upset when he beat eighth seed Sanzaruz Zaman of West Bengal 6-3, 6-3. Ismail, who had a very vocal contingent of Maharstrian juniors egging him on, seemed to have no real problem with his opponent, only with the umpire.

Right now, in the men’s draw, it seems to be anybody’s game, with defending champion Nitin Kirtane winning both his matches. Past champion Vasudeva Reddy looks good, but given his unpredicatble temperement, anything could happen. Two of last year’s semifinalists VishalUppal and Vijay Kannan are quietly working their way past their opponents and look in fine form.

In the women’s though, things are on track, except for the minor upset of fifth seed Sheethal Gautham by former national champion Janaki Krishnamurthy, who doesn’t play as often these days. The top four — Sai Jayalakshmy, Rushmi Chakravarthi, Archana and Arthi Venkataraman — all demolished their opponents in straight sets.

RESULTS (second round, seedings in prefix)

Men: 1-Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt Yasser Arafat (UP) 6-4, 6-3; 7-Mustafa Ghouse (Mah) bt Kedar Shah (Mah) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; 3-Vijay Kannan (Del) bt Rishi Sridhar (TN) 6-1, 6-4; 5-Vasudeva Reddy (IOC) bt Tushaar Gautam (Del) 6-3, 6-4; 6-Vishal Uppal (Del) bt S Ganesh (TN) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Saurav Panja (WB) bt P Vishal (AP) 7-6 (7/3), 6-2; Asif Ismail (Mah) bt 8-Sanzaruz Zaman (WB) 6-3, 6-3; Sunil Kumar (Chd) bt SK Shivshankar (Kar) 6-2, 6-1.

Boys under-18: 1-Akshay Vishal Rao (Chd) bt P Vishal (AP) 6-2, 6-0; 6-N Mukundan ((TN) bt AshutoshSingh (Del) 6-3, 6-4; Amanjot Singh (Chd) bt P Ravikrishna (AP) 6-3, 6-4; 7-Kedar Shah (mah) bt Abhijit Mazumdar (Mah) 6-1, 7-5; Mithun Murali (TN) bt 5-V Kamala Kannan (TN) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Sunil Kumar (Chd) bt 3-Karan Doctor (Mah) 6-3, 3-6, 3-0 retd.; Parantap Chaturvedi (Del) bt Vinod Kumar Sewa (WB) 6-3, 0-6, 6-1; Benjamin Xavier (Mah) bt Nirmit Shetty (Kar) 6-2, 6-1

Women: 1-Sai Jayalakshmy (IOC) bt T Yamini (TN) 6-1, 6-4; Janaki Krishnamurthy bt 5-Sheetal Gautam (Kar) 6-2 6-2; 3-Archana Venkataraman (Kar) bt Geeta Manohar (AP) 6-4, 6-2; 8-Radhika Tulpule (Mah) bt Nischella Reddy (AP) 6-4, 6-0; Harsimran Kaur (Chd) bt 6-Karishma Patel (Guj) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3; 4-Arthi Venkataraman (Kar) bt T Sricharanya (TN) 6-0, 6-1; Lisa Pereira (Mah) bt 7-Tara Kanbargimath (Kar) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; 2-Rushmi Chakravarthi (IOC) bt Megha Vakharia (Mah) 6-4, 6-3

Girls under-18: 1-Sheethal Gautham (Kar) bt Riddhina Parekh (WB) 6-1, 6-2; Italia Khushchehr (Mah) bt Vishika Chhetri (Del) 6-1, 7-6 (7/1); 3-RadhikaTulpule (Mah) bt M Sunita (AP) 6-0, 6-0; 7-T Yamini (TN) bt Ankita Bhambri (Del) 4-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3; 8-Harsimran Kaur (Chd) bt Dimi Ashel (TN) 6-2, 6-1; Karishma Patel (Guj) bt Sania Mirza (AP) 6-3, 6-2; Nandita Chandrasekar (AP) bt bt 6-Geeta Manohar (AP) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5); 2-Sonal Phadke bt Aparna Singh 6-2, 6-1.