Amrita, Abhishek bag double crowns, Akhtar Ali battles on

Meanwhile, former Davis Cup captain Akhtar Ali, partnering CB Raju of Andhra Pradesh, reached the semi-finals of the senior doubles 65+ years round in the ongoing second edition of the GVK-AISTA Senior National Ranking Tennis Tournament being held at the Bengal Tennis Association (BTA).

Ali and Raju defeated KV Appalla Raju of Andhra and M Krishnaswamy of Karnataka, in a match which went the distance, by 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3.

In the 45+ years event, Kamal Thapa of Nepal reached the semi-finals after upstaging third seed Andhra veteran V Srinivas Reddy in straight sets 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Top seed RE Sudarshan Rao had an easy route to the semis defeating Venkata Pandu Ranga Rao 6-2, 6-0. Fourth seed R Nagraj trounced local hero Dilip Kumar 6-2, 6-1 and second seed Yogesh Shah from Ahmedabad made short work of B Joji Reddy 6-2, 6-4.

In the 55+ years category, Maharashtra’s Tahir Ali again created an upset beating fourth seed TAPN Rao in a hard fought battle. Ali too the first set in tie-break and the lost the second again in tie break. It was enough to take the wind out of Rao. Ali prevailed 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (2-7), 3-0 (retd). Top seed V Rama Mohan Rao of Andhra, fifth seed S Settu of Tamil Nadu and second seed K Radhakrishna Murthy completed the semi-finals line-up.

Sixth seed Kesava Perumal created a mini upset in the quarters of the 65+ singles category. He defeated third seed TN Lakshmanan. The others who made it to the semis were top seed C Radhakrishnan of Tamil Nadu, fourth seed VR Kulkarni of Karnataka and second seed CB Raju of Hyderabad.

Today’s results in the U-14 Asian finals:

Boys’ Singles U-14 years (India unless specified): Abhishek Alla (2) (WC) (13) beat Vishal Passi (1) (WC) (10) 6-3, 6-2.

Boys’ Doubles U-14 (India unless specified): Abhishek Alla & Nishchay Rawal beat Vishal Passi & Shaikh Abdullah 6-2, 6-3.

Girls’ Singles U-14 (India unless specified): Amrita Mukherjee (1) (14) beat Simran Kaur Sethi 6-0, 6-4.

Girls’ Doubles U-14 years (India unless specified): Amrita Mukherjee & C Sai Samitha beat Rimpledeep Kaur & Bhawika Wadhwan 6-2, 5-7, (10-6).

Results of the Sr National Ranking meet:

Senior Singles 45+ Quarter Finals: R.E. Sudarshan Rao (AP) beat Ch. Venkata Pandu Ranga Rao (AP) 6-2,6-0; R. Nagraj (Kar)(4) beat Dilip Kumar (WB) 6-2,6-1; Kamal Thapa (Npl) beat V. Srinivas Reddy (3)(AP) 7-6(7-2),6-3; Yogesh Shah (2)(Guj) beat B. Joji Reddy (AP) 6-2,6-4.

Senior Singles 55+ Quarter Finals: Dr. V. Rama Mohan Rao (1)(AP) beat A. Rambabu (AP) 3-2(Retd.); Tahir Ali (Mh) beat T.A.P.N. Rao (4)(AP) 7-6(7-5),6-7(2-7), (Retd.); S. Settu (5)(TN) beat Pushpa Raj (3)(Kar) 6-1,3-6,6-3; Radharishna Murthy (2)(AP) beat Lt. Col. Ankaiah (AP) 6-4,6-1.

Senior Singles 65+ Quarter Finals: C. Radhakrishnan (1)(TN) beat M. Krishnaswamy (Kar) 6-3,7-5; Kesava Perumal (6)(TN) beat T.N. Lakshmanan (3)(TN) 7-6(7-2),7-6(7-3); V.R. Kulkarni (4)(Kar) beat S. Narsimha Rao (AP) 6-0,6-1; C.B. Raju (2)(AP) beat K. Sheshadrinath (8)(AP) 6-4,6-4.

Senior Doubles 45+ Pre Quarter Finals: V. Srinivas Reddy (AP) & K. Meher Prakash (AP)(1) beat Raj Dadhich (WB) & B.N. Dhupar (WB) 6-2,6-1; Ch. Venkata Pandu Ranga Rao (AP) & K. Krishnam Raju (AP) beat Ashok Kumar (WB) & Joy Banerjee (WB) 6-4,6-0; Paul Manohar (AP) & Yogesh Shah (Guj)(4) beat M.S. Narayana (AP) & Ravindra K. Nagarkar (Mah) 6-2,6-3; Deonam Lama (WB) & Kamal Thapa (Npl) beat Dilip Chowdhury (WB) & Gayadhar Palai (WB) 6-2,6-4; R.E. Sudarshan Rao (AP) & V. Vijay Kumar (AP) beat S. Nettappa (AP) & D. Subhash Chandra Bose (AP) 6-4,6-1; M.V. Swamy (AP) & M. Suresh (AP)(3) beat B. Joji Reddy (AP) & K.S. Raju (AP) 6-4,6-3; Ashok Kumar Prasad (WB) & Suresh Bandi (AP) beat Ashok Somani (WB) & Debabrata Ghosh (WB) 6-2,6-0; R.V. Rama Raju (AP) & R. Nagaraj (Kar)(2) beat Ashis Sen (WB) & Dilip Kumar (WB) 6-4,6-7(7-9),6-3.

Senior Doubles 55+ Pre Quarter Finals: A. Rambabu (AP) & S. Settu (TN)(1) beat Abdul Azeez (AP) & M.S. Prakash (AP) 4-6,6-3,6-3; B.G. Reddy (AP) & Tahir Ali (Mah) beat U. Krishna Prasad (AP) & P.G.K. Raju (AP) 6-0,6-1; D.S.N. Raju (AP) & Pushpa Raju (AP)(4) beat Dhavel Patel (Mah) & Tapas Sengupta (WB) 6-4,5-7,6-0; Vijay Shahane (Mah) & A. Bhaskar Reddy (AP) beat K.S.R. Mohan Rao (AP) & Lt. Col. Ankaiah (AP) 7-5,6-3; Ajit Lall (WB) & Somnath Bose (WB) beat Lakshman Ambulkar (Mah) & K. Sanyasi Rao (AP) 6-2,6-0; A.S.N. Raju (AP) & Dr. V. Rama Mohan Rao (3) beat A.R. Rao (AP) & V.L.S.N. Raju (AP) 6-1,6-1; C.B.S. Varaprasad (AP) & Dr. S. Ramakrishna (AP) beat Shiv Mor (Mah) & Shyam R. Gaikwad (Mah) 6-2,6-2; T.A.P.N. Rao (AP) & K. Radha Krishnamurthy (AP)(2) beat M. Varahalayya (AP) & S.D. Kumar (AP) 6-0,6-0.

Senior Doubles 55+ Quarter Finals: D.S.N. Raju (AP) & Pushpa Raju (AP)(4) beat Vijay Shahane (Mah) & A. Bhaskar Reddy (AP) 6-4,6-2; A.S.N. Raju (AP) & Dr. V. Rama Mohan Rao (3) beat Ajit Lall (WB) & Somnath Bose (WB) 6-4,6-2; T.A.P.N. Rao (AP) & K. Radha Krishnamurthy (AP)(2) beat C.B.S. Varaprasad (AP) & Dr. S. Ramakrishna (AP) 6-1,7-6(7-3).