Bopanna, Sipaeya score upsets

Rohan Bopanna and Sunil Kumar Sipaeya pulled off major upsets in the MSLTA-ITF Futures tennis tournament, bagging the scalps of the fifth and sixth seeds, to enter the last eight stage at the Deccan Gymkhana tennis courts, in Pune, on Wednesday.

While Bopanna, who went through the distance on Tuesday, beat seventh seed Ciaran Moore of South Africa 6-2, 6-0 in a hopelessly one-side contest, former national champion Sipaeya did well to settle down after a tough first set to get the better of Nitin Kirtane 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Joining the duo in the quarter-finals were India Davis Cupper Syed Fazaluddin, top seed Lior Dahan, fourth seeded Abdul Hamid Makhamov of Uzbekistan, eighth seed Jurex Stasiak of Poland, unseeded Michal Varsayani of Slovakia and second seed Eyan Elrich of Israel, who ended the winning streak of Pralhad Srinath, the winner of the last two Futures tournaments at Indore and Bombay.

Srinath lost 6-7 (4-7), 3-6 in an hour-and-a-half.

The Sipaeya-Kirtane match was a keen affair, with both players giving little away and holding serve in the opening set, which went into the tie-breaker. But it was Sipaeya's consistency which won him the first set as he served well in the tie-breaker and committed fewer errors to win it at 7-2.

A set down, much was expected from Kirtane in the second set. But after Sipaeya snatched an early break in the third game, Kirtane's game deteriorated. His unforced errors grew and Spiaeya took control. He effected another break in the seventh game which was enough to give him the set and match at 6-2.

He will now take on top seed Lior Dahan of Israel, who easily beat Vijay Kannan 6-4, 6-2.

The unseeded Bopanna packed too much power in his serve to beat Moore 6-2, 6-0. Eight aces saw him send the South African packing in less than an hour.

However things will not be all that easy when he takes on Fazaluddin in the quarterfinals. The Davis Cup ace served and volleyed efficiently to overcome Pune's Kedar Tembe 6-3, 6-1.

Srinath's exit was a disappointment. He started off well, breaking Elrich in the third game. But just when he looked good enough to take the set, he dropped serve in the tenth game to allow the second seed to level the scores. He then had four break points in the following game but failed to cash in on them, making a mess of two easy shots he could have put away at the net.

Elrich held to go up 6-5 before Srinath could do likewise to take the set into the tie-breaker.

In the tie-break, Srinath mishit two forehands and lost the set.

In the second set, Elrich, playing percentage tennis, returned well to break the Indian in the fifth and ninth games to wrap the match.

Elrich will take on Jurek Stasiak of Poland in the quarterfinals.

Stasiak was lucky to make it to the quarterfinals, thanks to Manoj Mahadevan, who missed two match points and allowed the Pole get back into the match and snatch a 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 victory.

Captain of the Uzbek Davis Cup team Abdul Makahmov will clash with Michal Varsayi of Slovakia in the other quarter-final. Makhamov thrashed Kanmala Kanan 6-3, 6-0, while Varsanyi scraped past Rishi Sridhar 7-5, 6-3.