Suraj Prabodh bounced back from a slow start to beat Tejas Chaukulkar 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the State Bank of Patiala National grass court tennis championship at the Chandigarh Club on Thursday. In the semifinals, Suraj meets V.M. Ranjeet, who was razor sharp in outplaying Shahbaaz Khan.
Vijay Kannan pulled through into the semifinals with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over qualifier Jatin Dahiya. Vijay is scheduled to play top seed Dalwinder Singh in the semifinals.
However, Dalwinder, who has been fluent in the last two rounds after a tough start to the tournament, is suffering from a painful inflammation in his abdomen, and that might rule him out of the semifinal.
Dalwinder had, in fact, sought to consult the physio at the start of his quarterfinal but played on as medical assistance was delayed, and dismissed Param Pun.
In the women’s section, qualifier Aarushi Kakkar joined top three seeds Riya Bhatia, Sai Samhitha and Nidhi Chilumula in the semifinals.
The results: Men: Quarterfinals: Dalwinder Singh bt Param Pun 6-2, 6-4; Vijay Kannan bt Jatin Dahiya 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Suraj Prabodh bt Tejas Chaukulkar 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; V.M. Ranjeet bt Shahbaaz Khan 6-3, 6-3. Doubles semifinals: Param Pun & Hardeep Singh Sandhu bt Vilasier Khate & Ranjeet Singh 6-2, 6-3; Armaan Bhatia & Ishaque Eqbal bt Abhinansu Borthakur & Saurav Sukul 6-1, 6-2. Quarterfinals: Abhinansu Borthakur & Saurav Sukul bt Siddarth Ponnala & Suraj Prabodh 6-3, 6-4.
Women: Quarterfinals: Riya Bhatia bt Sara Yadav 6-0, 6-2; Aarushi Kakkar bt Seerat Kaur Pannu 6-1, 6-2; Nidhi Chilumula bt Himani Mor 6-0, 6-1; Sai Samhitha bt Kaavya Sawhney 6-1, 6-2. Doubles semifinals: Nidhi Chilumula & Moulika Ram bt Yubrani Banerjee & Neeru Rapria 6-1, 6-2; Sai Samhitha & Amrita Mukherjee bt HImani Mor & Dakshata Patel 6-1, 6-1. Quarterfinals: Himani Mor & Dakshata Patel bt Vasavi Ganesan & Arthi Muniyan 7-6(5), 4-6 retired .
