Top seeds knocked out

PUNE, May 16: The top two seeds — Vasudeva Reddy and K V Ganesh — were knocked out by Pralhad Srinath and Nitin Kirtane in the Rs 2.5 lakh Western India tennis tournament for the Rocket Trophy at the Deccan Gymkhana courts.Kirtane and Srinath, the third and fourth seeded players won in straight sets. Kirtane, the current Indian Davis Cupper player, took just above an hour to defeat Ganesh of Tamil Nadu 6-1, 6-4. In the second semi-final the former Davis Cupper, Srinath maintained his upward performance against Andhra Pradesh’s Vasudeva Reddy by downing the top seed for the fifth time in their sixth meeting 6-4, 6-3. Srinath had lost to Vasudeva only once in last year.Meanwhile, the women’s single final will see the two fast friends and the doubles partner fighting it out for the Dr Auqa trophy.

Second seed and the current National grass and hard court champion Arati Ponnappa of Tamil Nadu overcame the resistance of fourth seed K Janaki of Maharashtra in a grueling three setter 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Her friend and statemate, top-seeded Rushmi Chakravarthy had no difficulty in edging out fourth seed V Archana 6-0, 6-3.

Results:Men’s singles (semi-final): 3. Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt 2. K V Ganesh (TN) 6-1, 6-4; 4. Pralhad Srinath (Kar) bt 1. Vasudeva Reddy 6-4, 6-3.Women’s singles (semifinal): 2. Arati Ponnappa (TN) bt 4. K Janaki (Mah) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); 1. Rushmi Chakravarthy (TN) bt 3. V Archana (Kar) 6-0, 6-3.