The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Vijay Sundar stuns Karan Rastogi

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Vijay Sundar stuns Karan Rastogi

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: India's Vijay Sundar Prashanth scripted a 6-4, 6-3 win over the top seed Karan Rastogi in the quarterfinals of the KCG Verghese Memorial ITF men's Futures tournament at the Gandhi Nagar Club here on Thursday.

Vijay, unseeded and ranked 611 in the world, will meet Patrik Rosenholm of Sweden in the semifinals. Patrik's quarterfinal opponent Marc Fornell Mestres of Spain had conceded the match on Wednesday citing a swollen knee.

Vijay raced to a 4-0 lead breaking the top seed in the very first and third games.

Karan forced the pace, though a bit belated, by breaking Vijay's serve in the sixth game. But Vijay kept up the pressure on Karan's serve and quickly pocketed the first set.

Employing the same strategy in the second, Vijay took a 5-3 lead with back-court play. “When I played him in Cambodia in my first final, I was very nervous. Today, I put pressure on his service, what he did to me in Cambodia,” said Vijay.

Karan, World No. 318, said that Vijay handled the humid conditions better than him. “The heat was the major difference. But all credit to him,” said Karan.

Vishnu Vardhan, the second seed, overcame V.M. Ranjeet 7-5, 6-2 while fourth seed Julien Dubail of Belgium posted a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 win over Vivek Shokeen. In the second semifinal, Julien will clash with Vishnu.

Finally, the gallery was put up, ending the three-day ordeal for the spectators.

The results (Indians unless otherwise mentioned):

Singles (quarterfinals): Vijay Sundar Prashanth bt Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-3; Patrik Rosenholm (Swe) w/o Marc Fornell Mestres (Esp); Vishnu Vardhan bt V.M. Ranjeet 7-5, 6-2; Julien Dubail (Bel) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles (semifinals): Vijay Sundar Prashanth / R. Arun Prakash bt Junn Mitsuhashi (Jpn) / Christopher Rungkat (Ina) 7-5, 6-4; Sie Elbert (Ina) / P. Siriluethaiwattana (Tha) bt Mark Alexander Kepler (Ger) / Amrit Narasimhan (USA) 6-4, 6-1 .

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