New Delhi: Nirupama Vaidyanathan lost to Ines Gorrochategui in the first round of the Santa Clara Challenger 2-6, 6-4, 3-6. But she will pick up enough points to make it into the Australian Open qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Syed Fazaluddin lost his second round match against Arvind Parmar of Britain 6-4, 1-6, 3-6 at the British F8 Futures at Glasgow.

A-I in semis

Chandigarh: Star-studded Air-India of Mumbai and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited of Delhi took their appointed places into the semi-finals of the 29th All India Gurmit Memorial hockey tournament at the Sector 42 Hockey Stadium here today.

Air-India ousted a plucky Customs XI 5-2 while BPCL did not consume enough energy to eliminate Chandigarh XI 6-3 in the quarter-final matches.

Gagan Ajit Singh (2), Edward Aranha, Rajesh Chauhan and Manoj Lokhande (one each) scored for A-I while Customs reduced the margin through Kulwant Rai and Sunil.