Mahadevan in last eight

Our Correspondent

Wild card entry Manoj Mahadevan of India caused a major upset in the ITF Futures tennis tournament when he shocked third seed Michael Mertinak of Slovakia 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the pre-quarter-finals of the men's singles, in Bombay on Wednesday.

His victory, which came in a little under two hours, was the only bright spot for India on a day which saw three of his compatriots -- Rohan Bopanna, Maha Rishi Sridhar and Kedar Tembe -- fall by the wayside in the singles and two doubles pairs bow out.

He meets another qualifier, John Doran of Ireland in the battle for a last four beth on Thursday. Doran beat qualifier Baptiste Dupuy of France with two tie-break sets 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-0)

In the other pre-quarter-finals, Bopanna went down to second seed Viktor Bruthans of Slovakia after a gallant fight at 6-3, 1-6, 5-7, his lack of staying power doing him in in the end; Maha Rishi Sridhar also went down in similar fashion to seventh seed Kamil Patel of Mauritius 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, and Tembe was beaten by another Czech Tomas Janci 5-7, 2-6.

In the doubles, India didn't fare well in the doubles too, with the challenge coming to an end at the quarter-final stage. The two Indian pairs of Bopanna/Vijay Kannan and Mustafa Ghouse/Vishal Uppal bowed out in the quarter-finals.

Bopanna and Kannan lost to top seeds Viktor Bruthans and Branislav Sekac of Slovakia 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7 in two hours while second seeds Ghouse and Uppal went down to unseeded John Doran of Ireland and Kedar Shah of India 4-6, 3-6 in one hour 24 minutes.

Fourth seed Miloslav Grolmus and fifth seed Branislav Sekac also made it to the last eight along with top seed Juraj Hasko of Slovakia, who bt Anton Kokurin (Uzb) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Results: (Men's singles) pre-quarter-finals: Juraj Hasko (Svk) bt Anton Kokurin (Uzb) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Tomas Janci (Svk) bt Kedar Tembe (Ind) 7-5, 6-2; Miliolav Grolmus (Svk) bt Ondues Chvapil (Cze) 6-4, 2-1 (conceded); Branislav Sekac (Svk) bt Efe Ustundag (Tur) 6-4, 6-0; John Doran (Irl) bt Baptiste Dupuy (Fra) 7-6 (10-8); 7-6 (7-0); Manoj Mahadevan (Ind) bt Michal Mertinak (Svk) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; Kamil Patel (Mri bt Maha Rishi Sridhar (Ind) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Viktor Bruthans (Svk) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Doubles (quarter-finals): V Bruthans/B Sekac (Svk) bt R Bopanna/V Kannan (Ind) 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-5, T Janci/ M Mertinak (Svk) bt A Kokurin (Uzb)/ Sergi Krotiouk (Rus) 6-3 6-4, Ben Gudzelak/ Jonathan Marray (GBR) bt J Hasko (Svk)/ Josef Nesticky (Cze) 6-4 6-3, J Doran (Irl)/ K Shah (Ind) bt M Ghouse/ V Uppal (Ind) 6-4 6-3.