Sunil Kumar in quarters of Philadelphia event

Indian junior Sunil Kumar Sipaeya entered the quarter-finals of the Philadelphia grade-3 ITF junior grasscourt event being played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

Seeded second, Sipaeya defeated 15th seed Vincent Perna of the United States 6-1, 6-4 in the third round.

The Indian had defeated Christopher Clayton of the United States 6-3, 6-1 in the first round and Badr Rharbi of Morocco 7-6(5), 6-4 in the second.

Another Indian, Saurabh Singh won his first round match 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4 against Joseph Mirabile of the United States but lost in the second round to D.J.Geatz the United States 1-6, 6-3, 2-6.

13th seed Amanjot Singh was upset in the first round by Raian Luchici of Romania 4-6, 0-6.

Ninth seed Stephen Amritraj of the United States also moved into the quarter-finals, defeating his fellow countryman eight seed Rylan Rizza 6-3, 6-2.

In the girls' draw, Tara Iyer went down to seventh seed Jackie Carleton of the United States 1-6, 1-6 in the second round. The young Indian beat Megan Zebroski of the United States 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round.

In the doubles, Sunil Kumar and Amanjot Singh -- seeded third, moved into the second round, defeating the American pair of Cliff Greer and Kirk Thomas. They now face another American pair of Cameron Greenwood and Mark Weinig in the next round.

Saurabh Singh, partnering with W. Brad Pomeroy of the United States, lost in the second round to top seed American pair of Stephen Amritraj and Jonathan Stokke 6-7(1), 3-6.

At the KawZulu Natal Junior ITF tournament in Durban, South Africa, top seed Sania Mirza advanced to the second round.

Sania defeated Simri Van Rooyen of South Africa 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the grade-1 event.

The Indian will now face another South African, Sandri Keu in the second round.

Sania is the top seed and faces her biggest challenge from Chani Scheepers of South Africa, who was ranked in the top-60 last year. She has been playing profeesional tennis and has not played any junior events this year. She is unranked in the ITF right now, but seeded fourth in the event. Sania is likely to face her in the semis.

Sasha Abraham lost to Dasha Leonyuk of Russia 2-6, 6-7(3) in the first round.

At the 17th Damascus International Junior tournament, a grade 5 event, Rishi Behl and Karan Rastogi moved into the singles second round.

Behl defeated Amro Al Hafian of Syria 6-2, 6-4 while Rastogi routed George Khawam of Syria 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.

Another Indian, Nihal Advani lost in the first round to Ahmed Shebl of Egypt 6-7, 0-6.

In the girls' singles, all the three Indians lost in the first round. Krushmi Chheda lost to Nadja Kusterer of Germany 3-6, 1-6; Nidhi Shah lost to Noha Mohsen of Egypt 2-6, 0-6; and Nansi Jharna lost to Houda Yasri of Algeria 2-6, 1-6.

In the girls' doubles, Nidhi Shah and Nansi Jharna moved into the quarter-finals, defeating the Syrian pair of Nivin Kouzbari and Hazar Soudki 3-6, 7-5, 7-5. The duo will now face Amina El Sahn of Egypt and Doniz Makhzoumeh of Syria next.

Krushmi Chheda, partnering Hendricke-lea Heitmann of Germany, after getting a bye in the first round, will face the Algerian pair of Karina Ait-Ali-Yahia and Houda Yasri in the quarter-finals.