Rupesh Roy, Vivek Shokeen and Sumit Gupta of India and Shahzad Khan of Pakistan entered the semifinals of the first leg of the International Tennis Federation's Pakistan International Junior Tennis Championships in Islamabad on Wednesday with impressive victories over their quarterfinal opponents.
Top seed Roy displayed great fighting qualities to come back and win his match against Wasif Cheema of Pakistan after being blanked out in the first set. Cheema scored a number of winners and did not concede a single game in the set.
But Roy changed the tempo of the game in the second set and forced Cheema on the defensive, eventually breaking him in the fifth and seventh games to take the set 6-2. He then kept up the pressure and took the final set quite easily at 6-1.
Second seeded Gupta was in excellent form and eliminated eighth seed Mutib Pasha in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 without encountering any resistance.
Third seeded Khan was also in fine touch and outplayed sixth seeded Sandeep Kumar of India in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Shokeen then caused the upset of the tournament, eliminating fourth seeded Sivendaran Nishendaran of Sri Lanka in a closely contested match. Shokeen prevailed 7-6, 6-4, taking the first set tie-break at 7-4.
In the girls singles event, Punjaporn Ditthim and Nungnudda Wannasuk made the final an all-Thai affair by beating Indians Puja Paul and Shweta Kakhandki, respectively.
Top-seeded Punjaporn outplayed Puja in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 with several down-the-line and crosscourt winners to which the Indian had no answer.
In the second semifinal, Nungnudda beat second seeded Shweta 6-4, 6-4 in a well-contested match that saw several long rallies.
In the boys doubles event, Lalit Mann and Sandeep Kumar of India, Wasif Cheema and Shahzad Khan of Pakistan, Sumit Gupta and Vivek Shokeen, and the Thai-Lankan duo of Siributwong of Thailand and Sivendaran Nishendaran entered the semifinals.
Mann and Kumar caused the biggest upset in the doubles by beating top seeded Indians Rupesh Roy and Kaushik Das in straight sets.
In the girls doubles event, Amita Arudpragasam and Thiyumi Abeysinghe of Sri Lanka and Daksha Mulay of India with Nungnudda Wannasuk of Thailand entered the semifinals by winning their games in straight sets.
The boys semifinals will be played on Friday, October 3, from 1000 PST onwards. The boys doubles and girls doubles semifinals will start at 1000 PST on Thursday.
Following are the results of Wednesday's games:
Boys singles quarterfinals:
Rupesh Roy (Ind) bt Wasif Cheema (Pak) 0-6, 6-2, 6-1
Shahzad Khan (Pak) bt Sandeep Kumar (Ind) 6-1, 6-1
Vivek Shokeen (Ind) bt Sivendaran Nishendaran (Sri) 7-6(4), 6-4
Sumit Gupta (Ind) bt Mutib Pasha (Pak) 6-0, 6-1
Girls singles semi-finals:
Punjaporn Ditthim (Thi) bt Puja Paul (Ind) 6-0, 6-1
Nungnudda Wannasuk (Thi) bt Shweta Kakhandki (Ind) 6-4, 6-4
Boys doubles quarterfinals:
Lalit Mann and Sandeep Kumar (Ind) bt Rupesh Roy and Kaushik Das (Ind) 6-4, 7-6(3)
Shahzad Khan and Wasif Cheema (Pak) bt Abid Ali and Nasir Mehmood (Pak) 6-0, 6-1
Sumit Gupta and Vivek Shokeen (Ind) bt Danish Ahmed and Iltifat Haris (Pak) 6-0, 6-2
Peerakit Siributwong (Thi) and Sivendran Nishendaran (Sri) bt Mutib Pasha and Adnan Khan (Pak) 6-2, 2-6, 6-1
Girls doubles quarterfinals:
Amita Arudpragasam and Thiyumi Abeysinghe (Sri) bt Puja Paul (Ind) and Aziz Saba (Pak) 6-0, 6-0
Daksha Mulay (Ind) and Nungnudda Wannasuk (Thi) bt Sara Mansoor and Anoosha Aslam (Pak) 6-1, 6-0
