Asif Ismail crashes out

Former Davis Cupper and sixth seed Asif Ismail crashed out of the Rs 300,000 J S Pereira Millennium All India men's ranking tennis tournament after a stunning 6-4, 1-6, 3-6 second round loss to Vijendra Lad in an all-Maharashtra contest at the Bandra Gymkhana in Bombay on Tuesday.

Thriving on an impressive percentage of first serves, Ismail took the opening set with a crucial break in the ninth game. But Lad fought back to take second set, after breaking his formidable opponent on three occasions, to force the decider.

As in the second set, Lad surprised Ismail with brilliant passing shots in the final set to help himself to crucial winners as he earned breaks in the third and fifth games en route to one of his most memorable victories.

Fresh from his recent National hardcourt triumph, second seed Nitin Kirtane of Maharashtra rediscovered the form which won him the crown in New Delhi with a convincing 6-1, 6-3 rout of Delhi's Vishal Rao Akshay.

Joining the left-handed Kirtane was top seed and defending champion Vinod Sridhar of Tamil Nadu who put it across qualifer Girish Ramchandani of Gujarat 6-0, 6-3.

Results:

Men's singles second round: Vinod Sridhar (TN) bt Girish Ramchandani (Guj) 6-0, 6-3; Kedar Shah (Mah) bt Abhishek Tamhane (Mah) 7-5, 6-2; Vasudeva Reddy (IOC) bt Kaptan Karsoia (UP) 6-2, 6-2; Kedar Tembe (Mah) bt Jaco Mathew (TN) 6-4, 6-1; Manoj Mahadevan (TN) bt Sangram Chapekar (Mah 6-3, 6-3; Yasser Arafat (AP) bt Janmeet Singh (Chandigarh) 6-4, 7-5; Nitin Kirtane (Mah) bt Vishal Rao Akshay (Del) 6-1, 6-3; Vijendra Lad (Mah) bt Asif Ismail (IOC) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.