Sridhar, Rastogi make last four

Top seed Vinod Sridhar set up a meeting with sixth seed Arjun Gautam for a place in the last four while third seed Karan Rastogi advanced to a semi-final clash with veteran Nitin Kirtane in the Ira Diamond Jewellery National Ranking Prize Money Men's Tennis Championship on Thursday.

In the quarter finals, left-handed Sridhar of Tamil Nadu -- the India number four -- easily overpowered seventh seed J Vishnu Vardhan (nationally ranked 18) of Andhra Pradesh 6-1, 6-2 at the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club's courts in Mumbai.

Karnataka's Arjun, currently ranked 14 in the country, ousted fourth seed Kamala Kannan of Tamil Nadu, ranked three places above him, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to earn a shot at number one seed Sridhar in tomorrow's semi-final.

Maharashtra's third seed Rastogi -- nationally ranked 9 -- scored a fluent 6-3, 6-1 quarter-final victory over fifth seed Ashutosh Singh of Delhi.

Rastogi's next round opponent, unseeded former three-time national champion Nitin Kirtane, overcame Kedar Tembe 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) in an all-Maharashtra quarter final contest.

Southpaw Kirtane had shut out second seed Ajay Ramaswami in the opening round on Tuesday.

Results: Singles (Quarter finals): 1-Vinod Sridhar (Tamil Nadu) bt 7-J Vishnu Vardhan (Andhra Pradesh) 6-1, 6-2; 6-Gautam Arjun (Karnataka) bt 4-Kamala Kannan (Tamil Nadu) 6-3, 7-6 (5); 3-Karan Rastogi (Maharashtra) bt 5-Ashutosh Singh (Delhi) 6-3, 6-1; Nitin Kirtane (Maharashtra) bt Kedar Tembe (Maharashtra) 6-3, 7-6 (4).