Srinath in quarters

AHMEDABAD, DEC 23: Santa Claus couldn't wait until Christmas, Prahlad Srinath got an early delivery. To his credit, the Indian Davis Cupp...

AHMEDABAD, DEC 23: Santa Claus couldn’t wait until Christmas, Prahlad Srinath got an early delivery. To his credit, the Indian Davis Cupper has been doing his lessons diligently, faring well in the big tests and the reward was long due. He kept up the good work today to record a 6-4 6-3 win over seventh seed Goichi Motomora of Japan, to earn a quarter-final spot in the Bharat Petroleum ATP Challenger Tennis Tournament at the AGETA courts here.

But Srinath’s gift had a few strings. He and Mahesh Bhupathi withdrew from the doubles second round match owing to the latter’s stiff shoulder.Srinath’s serve deserted him at the start. Two double faults and an unforced error saw him being broken in his first game. Motomura’s piercing ground strokes did not help Srinath’s cause and it wasn’t until in the sixth game that Srinath could hold his serve for the first time. But to keep things even he had broken Motomura twice and the scores were tied 3-3.

Srinath’s net play has been the added feature this year and the netresult has been pleasant. The forward march set break point for Srinath in the seventh game and a double fault by Motomura gave him the decisive break. Games went with the serve after that and the Indian got the first set at 6-4.To counter Motomura’s cannonball ground strokes, Srinath slowed down the game. Motomura’s unforced error multiplied as Srinath added a break in the third game of the second set. The second break came in the ninth game and Srinath booked a place in the last eight, equalling his best ever performance at the Challenger. Srinath next plays Anthony Dupuis of France.

Results

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Singles: O Ogorodov bt R Svetlik 6-3, 6-0; S Prahlad bt G motomura 6-4, 6-3; E Ran bt J Boutter 6-2, 7-6 (7-0); O Motevassel bt A Parmar 6-3, 6-4; A Dupuis bt J Delgado 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; K Masuda bt B Cowans 7-6, 6-0; D Tomashevic bt N Okun 4-6, 6-2, 6-2; O Sela bt A Strambini 6-2, 6-3.

Doubles: N Behr & E Ran w/o M Bhupahti & P Srinath; G Carraz & R Lavergne bt S Delgado & A Parmar 6-0, 6-4; I Ljubicic & GMotomura bt V Kutsenko & O Ogorodov 7-6, 6-2.

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