CLTA, Chandigarh, Wednesday, February 22, 2012. : In the biggest upset of the morning the local lad Sanam K. Singh laid low his compatriot the top seed Vishnu Vardhan in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to storm in the quarterfinals. The much awaited clash between two youngsters found Sanam K. Singh raising his game a few notches to dispose-off top seed and last year’s winner Vishnu Vardhan out of the tournament. Matching his opponent stroke by stroke Sanam K. Singh showed nerves of steel while thwarting all attempts by Vishnu Vardhan to gain ascendency in the match. The titanic struggle for supremacy lasted two and half hours and the local lad’s stunning win made the home crowd happy.
Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan staved off a stiff challenge from 6th seed Hsin Han Lee of Taiwan in three hard fought sets. Lee Shin Hen won the 1st set 6-4 while Shuichi Sekiguchi came back to level by winning the set 6-3. The 3rd set saw a see-saw struggle for supremacy with both the players holding on to their serves and were involved in long rallies. Shuichi Sekiguchi was able to prevail upon 7-6(3). Japan had another success coming their way when Takeuchi Kento prevailed upon Vignesh Peranamullar in 3 sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. 8th seed Saketh Mayneni from India was able to tame wild card entrant Sidharth Rawat of India in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3). Sidharth Rawat who had caved in tamely in 1st set went on to extend Saketh by fully stretching him before going down in a tie breaker 7-6(3).Sarvar Ikramov the 7th seed from Uzbekistan disposed off Heisin Yin Peng from Taiwan who had moved from the qualifier round in 3 sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. N. Sriram Balalji of India was able to tame his compatriot Rupesh Roy in a bitter contest 7-5, 6-4. Murugesh R. Virali 5th seed ended the challenge of qualifier Jordi Munoz Abdue of Spain in three sets 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The second seed Arata Onozawa of Japan easily disposed off Matthieu Vierin of Italy 6-2, 6-2. Four from India, three from Japan, one from Uzbekistan made it to the quarterfinals round.
Hsin-Han Lee and Hsien Yin Pen from Taiwan defeated Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan and Mathhieu in two sets 7-6(3), 6-3 the 1st set was a ding dong affair with service changing hands before the top seed pair of Hsin-Han Lee and Hsien Yin Pen from Taiwan defeated Sekuchi of Japan. They brought out all their experience to wrap up the 1st set 7-6(3), The 2nd set however was a tame affair with the winners running away with it at 6-3. The 3rd seed pair of Japan Arata Onozawa and Kento Takeuchi lost to Indian challenge of Rohan Gajjar and Saketh Myneni in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(4) having disposed off the Japanese challenge easily in 1st set the Indian players had to fight back a stiff challenge from the Japanese before winning the 2nd set in a tie breaker set 7-6(4). Wild card entrant pair of Vijay Kannan and Arun Prakash Rajagopalan had to fight off a spirited challenge from their compatriot the 4th seed pair of Balaji Sriram and Murugeshan Verali. The 1st set won by Vijay Kannan and his partner 7-6(4), while Balan\ji and partner came back to wrap up 2nd set 2-6. The 3rd set was claimed by Vijay Kannan and partner in a super tie breaker (10-6). The struggle for supremacy lasted almost 2 hours. The last doubles match of the day was won by the 2nd seed pair of Sam Barry and Miles Bugby who disposed off Vivek Shokeen and Sanam K. Singh of India. They won the 1st set 6-4 but the Indian pair of Vivek Shokeen and Sanam k. Singh retired before the start of 2nd set with Sanam K. Singh having cramps.
Tomorrow singles quarterfinals will start at 10.00 A.M. and the doubles Semi-finals will take place after the completion of Quarterfinals.