Top seed Chandril Sood (Uttar Pradesh), second seed Prateek Bhambri (Delhi), third seed Vignesh Veerbhadran (Tamil Nadu) and Shahbaaz Khan (Maharashtra) toiled hard to move into men's singles semi-final of the Men and Women AITA Ranking Tennis Tournament being organised by the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association at the Sector 10 Tennis Stadium on Wednesday.

Chandril Sood was extended to three sets by qualifier Sidharth Rawat of Uttar Pradesh before scoring a hard-fought 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5 victory in the quarter-final. Second seed Prateek Bhambri overcame a stiff resistance from qualifier Mohan Chillar of Haryana 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in three sets.

Shahbaaz Khan of Maharashtra rallied to upset fifth seed Manoj Sewa of West Bengal 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Local challenge in the men's singles ended when third seed Vignesh Veerbhadran got the better of Gurinder Singh 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.

Local qualifier Mehak Singh continued her winning spree by upsetting second seed Rani Samita Jain of Indian Air Force 6-0, 6-2 in a one- sided women's singles quarter-final encounter. Lucky loser Aishwarya Aggarwal of Madhya Pradesh outplayed Padmapriya A.K of Karnataka in straight sets 6-1, 6-0. In another quarter-final match, Sowjanya Bavisetti beat Arantxa Andrady of Delhi 6-2, 6-1. Qualifer Bhuvana of Andhra Pradesh defeated another qualifier Likitha Shetty of Delhi 6-1, 6-4.

Results:

Women's singles: Quarter-final ; Mehak Singh (Q1) (CHD) bt Rani Smita Jain (IAF) (2) 6-0, 6-2, Aishwarya Aggarwal (MP) (LL2) bt Padmapriya A.K (KAR) 6-1, 6-0, Sowjanya Bavisetti (Q5) bt Arantxa Andrady (DLI) (LL6) 6-2, 6-1, Bhuvana K. (Q7) (AP) bt Likitha Shetty (Q8) (DLI) 6-1, 6-4: Men's singles: Quarter-final: Chandril Sood (1) (UP) bt Sidharath Rawat (Q8) (UP) 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5, Prateek Bhambri (DLI) (2) bt Monal Chillar (Q6) (HAR) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, Vignesh Veerbhadran (3) (TN) bt Gurinder Singh (Q2) (CHD) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, Shahbaaz Khan (MAH) bt Manoj Sewa (5) (WB) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Women's doubles : Quarter-final : Anushree Thamnna (KAR)/Dipti Srivastava (WB) (3) bt Tanvi Gupta (DLI)/ Jaanesh Kaur (CHD) 6-2, 6-7 (5), 18-16, Garima Vatwani (DLI)/Sowjanya Bavisetti (AP) bt Mohana Sarker (WB)/ Shardha Dali (MAH)6-1, 6-2, Jilke Nelord (DLI)/Renuka Keswani (DLI) bt Likitha Shetty (DLI)/Padmapriya A.K (KAR) (4) 7-6 (4),4-6, 14-12, Aishwarya Agarwal (MP)/Natasha Palha (MAH) bt Nupur Kaul (MAH) Abhilasha Ahuja (DLI) (1)6-3, 6-4; Men's doubles: Quarter-final : Gaurav Panja (WB)/Manoj Sewa (WB) (1) bt Saaneesh Mani Mishra (UP)/Arvind Singh (RAJ) 2-6, 6-3, 1-8, Bhambri (DLI)/Yogesh Phogat (HAR) (HSIIDC) (2) bt Ajay Yadav (HAR) (CLTA)/Deepinder S. Bains (CHD) 6-4, 7-5, Digvijay S. Mehta (HP)/Shahbaaz Khan (MAH) bt Lakshit Sood (UP)/Chandril Sood (UP) (3) 1-6, 6-2, 11-9, Prateek, Monal Chillar (HAR)/Rubal Shandilya (MAH) bt Kunal Anand (DLI)/Armaan Chaudhary (CHD) 6-4, 6-4.