Fruitful tour for Srinath

NEW DELHI, JULY 13. Prahlad Srinath had a fruitful tour of Greece as he won nine singles matches in the $10,000 ITF Futures tournaments in Nafplio and Syros last fortnight.

The 417th ranked Srinath, expected to spearhead the Indian challenge in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie against Sweden on clay at Bastad from July 21 to 23, made the semifinal grade in the first tournament as a qualifier and the following week reached the final.

Srinath lost both the times to Konstantinos Economidis of Greece, who swept the two singles titles.

The wiry Srinath enjoyed playing on the hardcourts and did well in doubles as well, partnering Jason Marshall of the U.S. The Indo-U.S. combination beat the second-seeded Martin Sinner of Germany and Kobi Ziv of Israel in straight sets in the first round before losing in the semifinals to the eventual champion pair of Dustin Mauck and Keith Pollak of the U.S.

Even in the second week of doubles, Srinath and Marshall lost only to the eventual winners Stephen Huss of Australia and James Smith of Britain in three sets in the quarterfinals.

Srinath and Syed Fazaluddin have joined hands to play the doubles in the $25,000 Oberstavien Challenger in Germany this week.

Meanwhile, Harsh Mankad and Vishaal Uppal are scheduled to leave for Sweden on Friday from Delhi. Mahesh Bhupathi, expected to play only the doubles, is also slated to reach Bastad from London shortly, along with the non-playing captain Ramesh Krishnan.

The results:

ITF Futures, Syros, July 3-9: Singles: Round-1: 5-Prahlad Srinath bt Ulrich Tippenhauer (Ger) 6- 2, 6-4; Pre-quarterfinals: bt Niko Karagiannis (Gre) 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 6-3; Quarterfinals: bt 4-Kobi Ziv (Isr) 6-4, 6-1; Semifinals: bt 2-Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 6-4, 6-7, 6-4; Final: lost to 3-Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 2- 6, 2-6.

Doubles: R1: Prahlad Srinath and Jason Marshall (U.S.) bt Niko Karagiannis (Gre) and Daniel Norberg (Swe) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0); Quarterfinals: lost to Stephen Huss (Aus) and James Smith (GBR) 6-3, 3-6, 5-7.

ITF Futures, Nafplio, June 26 to July 2: Singles: Qualifying 1: 2-Prahlad Srinath - Bye; Q2: bt Nemanja Lalic (Yug) 6-3, 6-3; Q3: bt 15-Olivier le Jeune (Fra) 6- 3, 6-3.

Round 1: 4-Prahlad Srinath bt Zoltan Boroczky (Hun) 6- 4, 7-6 (7- 2); Pre-quarterfinals: bt Carlos Rexach-Itoiz (Esp) 6- 3, 6-1; Quarterfinals: bt 6-Taso Vasiliadis (Gre) 4-1 (retd.); Semifinals: lost to Konstantinos Economidis (Gre) 6-7 (5-7), 4-6.

Doubles: Round 1: Prahlad Srinath and Jason Marshall (US) bt 2- Martin Sinner (Ger) and Kobi Ziv (Isr) 6-2, 6-3; Quarterfinals: bt Fivos Michalopoulos and Yannis Vlachos (Gre) 6-3, 6-0; Semifinals: lost to Dustin Mauck and Keith Pollak (U.S.) 4-6, 5- 7.

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