Vinod Gowda knocked out the fourth-seeded Nattan Benjasupawan of Thailand 6-3, 7-6(5) in the boys' pre-quarterfinals of the ITF juniors grade ‘II' tennis tournament at the DLTA Complex here on Wednesday.
The 18-year-old from Bangalore will challenge qualifier Zvonimir Babic of Croatia, who knocked out the seventh-seeded Sahil Deshmukh in another second round encounter.
Karan Salwan was the only other Indian to make the quarterfinals, as he fought his way past qualifier Jeroen Royakkers of Belgium in a three setter, after losing the first set in a tie-break. Karan, who had beaten the top-seeded Chi-Shan Jao of Chinese Taipei in the first round, will face Hyeon Chung of Korea in the quarterfinals.
The eighth-seeded Vilasier Khate was blown out of the court by Albert Alcaraz Ivorra of Spain, who has dropped only three games each in his two rounds so far.
Natasha advances
In the girls' section, Natasha Palha emerged the only Indian to make the quarterfinals, as she beat the fifth-seeded Ksenija Sharifova of Russia in straight sets. National sub-junior champion, Simran Kaur Sethi went down fighting to the seventh-seeded Michelle Werbrouck of Belgium.
The results (pre-quarterfinals) :
Boys : Karan Salwan bt Jeroen Royakkers (Bel) 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5; Hyeon Chung (Kor) bt Amirvala Madanchi (Iri) 6-1, 6-2; Vinod Gowda bt Nattan Benjasupawan (Tha) 6-3, 7-6(5); Zvonimir Babic (Cro) bt Sahil Deshmukh 6-1, 7-6(4); Naoki Nakagawa (Jpn) bt Dukyoung Kim (Kor) 6-4, 6-3.
Simon Stevens (Bel) bt Robert Dula (Cro) 6-0, 6-4; Albert Alcaraz Ivorra (Esp) bt Vilasier Khate 6-1, 6-2; Clement Geens (Bel) bt Krittin Koaykul (Tha) 7-6(4), 7-5.
Girls : Mai El Kamash (Egy) bt Arina Folts (Uzb) 7-6(5), 6-0; Natasha Palha bt Ksenija Sharifova (Rus) 6-3, 6-2; Oleksandra Korashvili (Ukr) bt Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-1; Kamonwan Buayam (Tha) bt Deria Nur Haliza (Ina) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1; Michelle Werbrouck (Bel) bt Simran Kaur Sethi 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Dabin Kim (Kor) bt Madrie Le Roux (RSA) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3; Nina Stojanovic (Srb) bt Ah Song (Kor) 6-3, 6-3; Ching-Wen Hsu (Tpe) bt Sanae Ohta (Jpn) 6-1, 6-4.
