The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Sunil Kumar Sipaeya downs Qureshi

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Friday, Dec 07, 2007
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Sunil Kumar Sipaeya downs Qureshi

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Wild card Sunil Kumar Sipaeya earned his maiden semifinal berth in the $50,000 ATP Challenger tennis when the Indian rallied to shock second seeded Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) here on Thursday.

“It was tough playing him, but I tried to dig out every return and it paid off well,” said Sipaeya after his two hour 26 minute quarterfinal battle in the SAIL Open ATP Challenger tournament at the DLTA Complex.

This was Sipaeya’s best-ever showing at this level, but the Indian will rue that he was unable to break big-serving Qureshi during the entire match. It was Sipaeya’s sheer resilience that carried him to the semifinal stage.

In first meeting between the two, the 24-year-old Indian stood out as he was quicker in reaching the balls that Qureshi never expected Sipaeya to return. Also the Pakistani has been busy on the ATP Challenger series playing singles and doubles events.

This week, after winning his maiden Challenger title here at the ONGC $50,000 Challenger, Qureshi decided to give his doubles some rest. But as the luck would have it, Qureshi’s dream of back-to-back Challenger titles faded away.

Sipaeya will now take on Tomas Cakl of the Czech Republic, who rallied to beat American Alberto Francis 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. In the top half of the draw, fifth seeded Michail Elgin of Russia will take on Ivan Sergeyev of Ukraine in the semifinals.

Elgin beats de Chaunac

Elgin defeated Frenchman Sebastien de Chaunac 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a match that lasted two hours and 10 minutes. De Chaunac needed just one break to take the first set, but Elgin rallied to even the sets, before he earned three match points in a baseline game.

The Frenchman lost when his slicing return got stuck in the net.

In the doubles event, the Chinese pair of Xin-Yuan Yu and Shao-Xuan Zeng caused an upset when they beat the top- seeded duo of Patrick Briaud of the U.S. and Alexey Kedriouk of Kazakhstan 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 10-6.

The results (Quarterfinals):

Singles: Ivan Sergeyev (Ukr) bt Ilia Marchenko (Ukr) 6-3, 6-4, Michail Elgin (Rus) bt Sebastien de Chaunac (Fra) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, Tomas Cakl (Cze) bt Alberto Francis (USA) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, Sunil Kumar Sipaeya bt Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4).

Doubles: Xin-Yuan Yu (Chn) and Shao-Xuan Zeng (Chn) bt Patrick Briaud (USA) and Alexey Kedriouk (Kaz) 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 10-6, Pavel Chekhov (Rus) and Elgin bt Martin Slanar (Aut) and Dekel Valtzer 1-6, 6-3, 10-8.

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