Amritraj in last eight

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March 30, 2005 21:26 IST

Davis cupper Prakash Amritraj moved into the quarter-finals, but compatriots Vishal Uppal, Vinod Sridhar and Rohan Bopanna were eliminated from the USD 15,000 ITF Futures Tennis Championship in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Twenty-one-year-old Amritraj was in fine nick as he notched an authoritative 6-0, 6-3 victory over Nick Monroe (USA) at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association courts.

The son of the legendary Vijay Amritraj now runs into the Netherlands' Jasper Smit, who came from behind to beat Adam Fass (USA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 today, for a place in the semi-finals.

"It was pretty smooth and comfortable," said seventh seeded Amritraj. "I know his game; he is a good friend of mine."

But for Amritraj's success, it was a disappointing day for the hosts.

Top seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan beat Uppal 6-2, 6-4 to book a berth in the last eight. Qureshi was never threatened in the 74-minute encounter.

Earlier, Sridhar raised his game several notches in the second set against Croatia's Ivan Cerovic to raise India's hopes but lost his nerve in the tie-breaker to go down.

Cerovic won 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

In another match, third seed Simon Greul of Germany was too good for Bopanna as he posted a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

The 25-year-old Bangalorean, staging a comeback after being sidelined for months because of injury, did try his best in the second set to turn the tide against his opponent but failed.

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