Defending champion Paradorn Srichapan of Thailand entered the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ilarel Levy at the Tata Open ATP Tour Tennis Championship in Chennai on Wednesday night.
In other important matches of the day, seventh seed David Ferrer and eighth seed Anthony Dupuis were shocked by unseeded Igor Andrew and Jean-Rene Lisnard respectively.
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In the doubles, India's Prakash Amritraj and his US-based cousin Stephen went down 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6 to the Spanish pair of Albert Portas and Lopez Moron.
Mahesh Bhupathi, pairing with little-known Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the absence of Leander Paes, crashed out, losing tamely to the top seeded Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 3-6, 1-6 in a first round match.
Second seeded Paradorn dominated from the beginning as he broke Levy in the opening game of the first set.
Levy was again broken in the fifth game, and then in the third and seventh games of the second set as Paradorn secured victory in 45 minutes.
Last year Paradorn won the title without dropping a set, but said he is now trying to play down the defending champion's tag to ease the pressure.
After last year's semi-finalist Lisnard of France upset compatriot Anthony Dupuis 7-5, 6-3, Russian Andreev turned table on Ferrer (Spain) with a 6-2, 6-3 win to coast into the quarter-finals.
Earlier, the wild card duo of Prakash and Stephen made their first ATP doubles appearance at home a memorable one by putting up a stiff fight against the Spanish combine of Albert Portas and Lopez Moron before going down in three sets in a first round match.
After dropping the first set, the Indian duo bounced back to take the next with a superb display of aggressive tennis, but ran out of steam in the decider and lost 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in an interesting duel which lasted over two hours on centre court.
In the Ferrer-Andreev match, it was the Spaniard who shot into a 2-0 lead, breaking his opponent in the second game. But Ferrer, who survived a first round scare against Fernando Verdasco by rallying from a set down, was broken back in the very next game.
And then there was no stopping the 20-year-old Russian, who held serve and broke his opponent in the fifth and seventh games before wrapping up the set.
Ferrer made as many as four double-faults, struggling with his first serves as against none by Andreev.
Ferrer appeared to have got back his bearings as he broke Andreev in the second game of the second set to take a 2-0 lead. But yet again he yielded ground as the Russian broke him back in the very next game and held serve to level scores.
He broke Ferrer again in the seventh and ninth games to clinch the match.
Ferrer also received an on-court warning for ball violation.
Ferrer is the third seed to bite the dust after Dupuis and sixth seeded Rafael Nadal, who was shocked by Theirry Ascione in a first round match late on Tuesday night.
Results:
Singles (pre-quarter-finals): Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) bt Harel Levy (Isr) 6-2, 6-2; Tommy Robredo (Esp) bt Kenneth Carlsen (Den) 6-2, 6-2; Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra) bt anthony Dupuis (Fra) 7-5, 6-3; Igor Andreev (Rus) bt David Feffer (Esp) 6-2, 6-3.
Doubles (pre-quarter-finals): A Lopex Moron/Albert Portas (Esp) bt Prakash Amirtraj (Ind)/Stephen Amritraj (USA) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3; Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (Isr) bt Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind)/Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 6-3, 6-1; Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski (Pol) bt Devin Bowen/ Paul Godsteirn (USA) 6-1, 7-6(3); Thierry Ascione (Fra)/Jean-Rene Bt IIarel Levy (Isr)/Tom Vanhoudt (Bel).
