The Indian stayed cool even as his quarter-final opponent, German Gerhard Fahlke, boiled at the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association courts today. Fahlke evaporated 2-6, 4-6 in a little over an hour, but not before emerging a poor ambassador for his country along with his other compatriots.

Sandeep Kirtane, so much in command yesterday, ran into a 1.87 metres tall Frederick Rovai (Sweden) who was as unshaken as James Bond's martini is not, in his 6-2, 6-0 one hour quarter-final.

Rovai plays Srinath in the semi-finals, the Indian's best challenge yet in the competition, while Thai Danai Udomchoke will play Swede Johan Hede in the other.

Udomchoke (ranked 1077), who upset top seed Andy Fahlke yesterday, capitalised on Marian Leysek's draining energy to record a 6-3,6-4 win. Eighth seed Leysek (942), whose two matches before this one have both been three-setters, did not have the legs to carry him over this one.

Fourth seed Hede (618) paid no heed to 19-year-old Boroczky Zoltan (Hungary) in his one hour, 20 minute 6-3, 6-3 job well done.

Srinath stays afloat: Technically, Srinath's match against the unseeded German would have been as easy as driving a Benz on a freeway. But Fahlke, with his compatriots acting as support team, did not give the Indian an easy time.

There were plenty of tricks from the 23-year-old from Hamburg, including standing at the middle of the court and moving continuously while Srinath served, and even serving underhand when facing break point.

Patrick Erhardt's continuous banter bothered Srinath enough to bring it to the chair umpire's notice in the middle of the second set. Erhardt, who lost to Vasudeva Reddy in the first round, sat on the adjoining court with two other players. They did their bit to help Fahlke who, till then, hadbeen hopelessly outplayed.

The tournament supervisor interfered, brought things to a simmer, though Fahlke continued with his unconventional methods.

Srinath lost his serve in the second game of the second set, faltering just that once. But the calm 24-year-old got back his rhythm as soon as he seemed to have lost it.

He broke back in the next game -- the one in which the German served underhand when down a break point. The Mysore lad held serve in the next and then broke serve again -- this time decisively.

``You can't lose focus due to such things,'' Srinath said after the match.

The focus was just right thereafter as Srinath served two aces, hit a few searing forehand passing shots and finished the match with a volley.

Results (country and world ranking in brackets):

Men's singles (quarter-finals): Prahlad Srinath (India, 541) bt Gerhard Fahlke (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; Johan Hede (Sweden, 618) bt Boroczky Zoltan (Hungary, 1237) 6-3, 6-3; Federico Rovai (Sweden, 560) bt SandeepKirtane (India, 1201) 6-2, 6-0; Danai Udomchoke (Thailand, 1077) bt Marian Leysek (Slovakia, 942) 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles: Anand Radhakrishnan/Saurav Panja (India) bt Marian Leysek (Slovakia)/Timo Nigri (Germany) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4); Patrick Erhardt/Andy Fahlke (Germany) bt Ondrej Chvapil (Czech Republic)/Andrew Ford (Great Britain) 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Sandeep Kirtane/Nitin Kirtane (India) bt S Pravin Kumar (India)/Gerhard Fahlke (Germany) 6-1, 6-4; Boroczky Zoltan (Hungary)/Johan Hede (Sweden) bt Federico Rovai (Sweden)/Niko Karagiannis (Germany) 6-1, 6-1.