Kirtanes go down to Greek duo

PUNE, August 12: India’s doubles duo Nitin and Sandeep Kirtane bowed out of the third leg of the Egypt ITF Future tennis tournament, losing to the Greek pair of Vasillodos C-Rovas C 2-6, 2-6 in the semi-final round on Tuesday, according to information reaching here.

The Kirtane duo overcame a spirited challenge from M Gafa (Egypt) and Vernon (Spain) before winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round. In the quarter-finals, the cousins from Pune defeated Teremusch-Gietl A 6-4, 6-4.

In the semi-finals, Nitin suffered a minor shoulder injury and had problems in playing to his optimum against the Greek pair, losing 2-6, 2-6. In the singles Nitin for the third week in a row, could not make it to the second round. This time the left-hander went down against Czech Republic’s Robicek C (ranked 937) 1-6, 3-6.