Bopanna in quarter-finals

Young Indian Rohan Bopanna stormed into the quarter-finals of the Berri Australian Unity International F5 Futures event, being played at Berri, Australia, on Thursday.

The Indian, ranked 643 on the ATP, upset second seed Peter Luczak of Australia 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in a second round match.

The 21-one-year-old from Bangalore showed his experience on grass by winning the last two sets of the match with the loss of only three games.

Luczak, listed 329 on the ATP and winner of last week's Frankston event, had no answer to the tall Indians' play.

Bopanna will face wildcard Ryan Henry of Australia in the quarter-finals.

Henry, listed 1049 on the ATP, booked his place in the quarter-finals with a straight sets win over Victorian Paul Podbury.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bopanna had defeated Jurek Stasiak of Australia 6-2, 6-4 in his first round match.

In another tournament, Mustafa Ghouse moved into the second round of the $10,000 ITF F1 Futures tennis tournament in Ha Noi, Vietnam.

Ghouse defeated Vjekoslav Skenderovic of Crotia 6-3, 6-3 in the first round.

He now will face Robert Krause of South Africa, who moved into the second round defeating Indian doubles ace Mahesh Bhupathi 3-6 (retd).

Bhupathi won the first set easily but decided not to pull on his injury, a hamstring tightness, which he had during a workout last week.

Skenderovic got into the main draw as lucky loser after fifth seed Benjamin Cassaigne of France pulled out of the event.

In the other first round matches, top seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan defeated wildcard Huynh Chi Khuong of Taiwan 6-3, 6-1; second seed Dmitri Tomashevich of Uzbekistan defeated qualifier Ti Chen of Taiwan 6-0, 6-1; third seed lost to Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 2-6, 3-6; fourth seed Lior Dahan of Israel defeated Dirk Stegmann of South Africa 6-3, 6-4; sixth seed James Auckland of Great Britain edged past Robert Cheyne of New Zealand 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3; seventh seed Dimitri Mazur of Uzbekistan defeated qualifier Sonchat Ratiwatana of Thailand 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 and eight seed Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Taiwan went down to Frank Moser of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 2-6.

Earlier report:
Bhupathi, Ghouse for Vietnam Futures