Gladwin, Malik send top seeds packing

V Peter Agnel Gladwin of Maharashtra and Chandigarh¡¦s Vijayant Malik toppled favourites and state-mates Rohan Gide and Kinshuk Sharma in the boys' under-16 and under-14 quarter-finals respectively at the DSCL Open National Tennis Championship in Delhi on Wednesday.

Gladwin, seeded fifth in the under-16 section, came out with all guns blazing on a cold afternoon as he stopped the top-seeded Gide 6-2, 6-3.

In another upset, No. 8 Paras Thakur edged out the second-seeded M Sai Sanketh to set up a semi-final clash with Kinshuk Sharma.

Sharma bounced back from his shock 4-6, 1-6 loss to No. 10 Vijayant Malik in the under-14 quarter-finals and halted qualifier Honey Rana¡¦s run with a facile win.

Fourth-seeded GP Pranjesh (Tamil Nadu) took the other semi-final berth with a quick victory over Satyam Patel.

Earlier, as the second seed in the under-14 draw, Gladwin made short work of No. 8 Yuki Bhambri (Delhi) even as Andhra Pradesh¡¦s Krishna AS Suresh defeated No. 7 Debendra Das (Maharashtra) in two closely-fought sets for his  second upset win in as many days after he had beaten fourth-seeded Pranjesh.

Parija Maloo, whose rise from Kamgaon town in the backwaters of Maharashtra as the top seed in both girls' sections is a warm story in itself, stayed on course to a double with hard-fought straight-set victories over No. 6 Varsha Datta (Assam) and Karina Ahuja (Delhi).

Earlier, seeded third in the under-14 draw, Dutta lost in straight sets to Delhi¡¦s Sanjana Kapoor while the second seed Pooja Shree Venkatesh was hampered by a wrist injury during her defeat by No. 5 GK Swetha.

Pooja Shree then conceded a walk-over in the under-16 draw to Shivika Burman.

The results:

Boys' under-16 singles (quarter-finals): 5 Peter Agnel Gladwin (Maharashtra) beat 1 Rohan Gide (Maharashtra) 6-2, 6-3; 4 GP Pranjesh (Tamil Nadu) beat Satyam Patel (Gujarat) 6-4, 6-0; Kinshuk Sharma (Chandigarh) beat q Honey Rana (Delhi) 6-1, 6-2; 8 Paras Thakur (Chandigarh) beat 2 M Sai Sanketh (Andhra Pradesh) 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Girls'¦ under-16 singles (quarter-finals): 1 Parija Maloo (Maharashtra) beat 6 Varsha Dutta (Assam) 6-4, 6-2; 5 Shivika Burman (Bengal) w.o. Pooja Sree Venkatesh (Karnataka); 4 Daksha Mulay (Maharashtra) beat 8 Sushruta Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; 2 Anukriti Prasad (Delhi) beat Neha Rana (Delhi) 7-6 (4) 6-3.

Boys' under-14 (quarter-finals): 10 Vijayant Malik (Chandigarh) beat 1 Kinshuk Sharma (Chandigarh) 6-4, 6-1; 3 V Vignesh (Tamil Nadu) beat Krishna Karsolia (Uttar Pradesh) 6-2, 6-1; Krishna AS Suresh (Andhra Pradesh) beat 7 Debendra Das (Maharashtra) 7-5, 7-6 (4); 2 Peter Agnel Gladwin (Maharashtra) beat 8 Yuki Bhambri (Delhi) 6-0, 6-3.

Girls' under-14 singles (quarter-finals): 1 Parija Maloo (Maharashtra) beat Karina Ahuja (Delhi) 6-2 7-5; Sanjana Kapoor (Delhi) beat 3 Varsha Datta (Assam) 6-3, 6-0; 4 Shivika Burman (Bengal) beat Shalini Sahoo (Delhi) 6-1, 7-6 (2); 5 GK Swetha (Karnataka) beat 2 Pooja Shree Venkatesh (Karnataka) 6-3, 6-4.