Dharwad, Oct 10: Maintaining his winning streak, Prakash Amritraj ousted second seed Michal Mertinek of Slovakia to storm into the quarterfinals of the ATP challenger tennis championship here.
Amritraj overcame the gritty Mertinek 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in a match lasting 172 minutes. However, other Indians in the fray -- Rohan Bopanna, Vishal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse, all wild card entrants, crashed out of the tournament.
Garcia Lopez Guillermo (Spain) defeated Vishal Uppal 7-6 (7-5) 6-3, while Takahiro Terachi (Japan) crushed Bopanna 7-6 (7-5) 6-0.
Both Uppal and Bopanna who offered some resistance in first sets succumbed in the second without any fight. Mustafa Ghouse also lost to Rik de Voest of South Africa 1-6 2-6.

Though Amritraj caused the biggest upset of the day, he was not at his top form. After winning the first set, Amritraj lost his rhythm and the second set 3-6. In the decider, both players held their serve till 6-6 forcing the tie-break.



After equalling at 3-3 in the tie-break, Mertinek netted a backhand that gave Amritraj the lead (4-3). Amritraj increased his lead to 5-3 but another error on his part narrowed his lead to 5-4.



Serving at 4-5, Mertinek lost his cool and netted the ball (4-6). Then it was 5-6. Amritraj won the crucial point and match as Mertinek's return went wide.


Bureau Report