Mankad moves into quarter-finals

The mind was not there but Vishaal Uppal willed his body into framing a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Manoj Mahadevan, dropping two match points in the process. Uppal, who lost his grandmother yesterday and made a flash visit to Delhi before returning last night, said he now knew what Sachin Tendulkar went through.

Trailing 1-4 and 0-2 respectively in the two sets, Uppal carved a victory that puts him in the path of third seed Syed Fazaluddin.

Top seed Prahlad Srinath and Sandeep Kirtane joined Fazaluddin in the quarters. Srinath dropped two points on serve, led 5-0, 40-30 before presenting Shivashankar Kambargimath with two break points.

The top seed saved one with an ace, the other with ease to forward his case to the next set. Here too, he was up 4-0 and then, in a flash, it was 4-3. Srinath saved break point at 5-3 before settling the issue in little over an hour.

Mustafa Ghouse led 5-4, 40-0 and serving for the set against Mohammed Khaliq when things went drastically wrong. Khaliq took the set 7-5 and the next 6-1 to present the Indian with heartbreak.

MANKAD MAGIC: Mankad attributed some of his recent success to Marcus Hilpert, the National grasscourt champion. His inspiration, and his work regime has given me added fitness, said Mankad after the match.

His start would have turned Ben Johnson green. Mankad was all over Kannan8217;s serve, stunning the DHAITA-trainee into submission. Two crackling returns, one forehand crosscourt and another down the line, did the damage to Kannan8217;s serve and psyche.

That achieved, monotony followed with Mankad sending an occasional blinder. He dropped three break points at 4-3 and then, dropped serve to let Kannan level. Which, to the relief of Mankad8217;s mother watching from the stands, turned out to be an aberration.

Mankad took the set 6-4, dropping one set point and saving one break point, in the process.

Kannan threatened revival in the next, leading 4-1 with a break in the fourth. But Mankad, who hit 15 forehand winners and four on the backhand, was not to be denied. He took the decisive break in the ninth, led 5-4, pulled off a powerful service game that included his second ace, to put matters to rest.

Results

Men8217;s singles second round: Syed Fazaluddin Ind bt Ashley Ford Aus 6-3, 6-1; Prahlad Srinath Ind bt Shivashankar Kambarginath Ind 6-0, 6-3; Anton Kokurin Uzb bt Saurav Panja Ind 6-3, 0-6, 6-2; Artem Derepasko Rus bt Ravi Kiran Bhat Ind 6-2, 6-0; Mohammed Khaliq Pak bt Mustafa Ghouse Ind 7-5, 6-1; Sandeep Kirtane Ind bt Rohan Bopanna Ind 7-5, 6-2; Harsh Mankad Ind bt Vijay Kannan Ind 6-4, 6-4; Vishaal Uppal Ind bt Manoj Mahadevan Ind 7-5, 7-5.

Doubles QF: Alexandre Sikanov/Andrei Younzyi bt Le Minh/Jay Udwadia 7-6 7-5, 6-7 9-11, 6-3; Sandeep/Nitin Kirtane bt Prahlad Srinath/Vasudeva Reddy 6-4, 6-2; Harsh Mankad/Artem Derepasko bt Ravi Kiran Bhat/Rohan Bopanna 7-6 7-5, 6-3.