Manoj scripts Greek tragedy

Majmudar, a 22-year-old mechanical engineer from Harvard born to Indian parents but living in New York, plays Matthis Kempe-Bergman (Sweden) who trampled over Sandeep Kirtane 7-5, 6-4.

Vinod Sridhar, seeded No 6, defeated Andrei Youzhny (Rus, 1069) 6-1, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5 to have a go at Radim Zitco who earlier had Vishaal Uppal’s number.

Sunil Kumar, National champion, came into the big league and exited after one quick win and a swift loss.The 16-year-old had three break points in today’s match but dropped all. At the end of a marathon rally in the eighth game of the second set, he had his face to the ground. And his chances more or less grounded.

The Delhi teenager hit double faults facing break points twice in the first set as Per Thornadtsson (Swe) won 6-1, 6-4.

Rohan Bopanna showed signs of another back-from-the-dead act. The 19-year-old Coorgi lost 1-6, 6-7 (6-8) to Thomas Messmer (Germany) but not before he was two points from taking the match into a third set.

MAHADEVAN MAKES IT: The 18-year-old handled what Syed Fazaladdin struggled to do yesterday — the big Greek’s serve. Karagiannis did most of the work himself, serving five double faults, giving the Chennai player as many chances he could to advance to the net.

Mahadevan did not hold serve in the first set, broke service twice in the second and showed how much he controlled the match in the last two games.Two matchless returns of serve earned the break and then abackhand volley, a forehand pass formed the last act.

SRIDHAR SCORES: Sridhar performed the first part of the Chennai double bill. He had one break point at 5-2 in the second set but Youzhny smashed in two aces to extend the pre-quarterfinal.

Tie-break was heart-break for the Indian. His scorecard read zilch.

The Indian then rose like a knocked down boxer, wobbly but determined, saving two break points in the ninth game of the decider before booking his place in the round of eight.

RESULTS (SEEDINGS IN PREFIX, COUNTRY, RANKING IN PARENTHESIS)

Men’s singles (second round): 3-Radim Zitco (Cze, 464) bt Vishaal Uppal (Ind, 969) 6-4, 6-3; 6-Vinod Sridhar (Ind, 693) bt Andrei Youzhny (Rus, 1069) 6-1, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5; 5-Tom Chicoine (US, 500) bt Vasudeva Reddy (Ind, 874) 6-1, 6-4; 4-Per Thornadtsson (Swe, 495) bt Sunil Kumar (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; Thomas Messmer (Ger, 949) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind, 1221) 6-1, 7-6 (8-6); Manoj Mahadevan (Ind, 1300) bt Niko Karagiannis (Gre, 969) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; MatthisKempe-Bergman (Swe, 1300) bt Sandeep Kirtane (Ind, 782) 7-5, 6-4; Kunj Majmudar (US) bt Josef Nesticky (Cze, 978) 6-1, 6-2.