Eqbal topples top seed Dahiya to enter quarters at tennis meet

Unheralded Ishaque Eqbal caused a major upset by toppling top seed Jatin Dahiya to enter the quarter-finals of the USD 3,000 RBL BankATT Asian Ranking men's tennis championships Thursday. In the pre-quarterfinal round match, unseeded Eqbal downed Dahiya 6-2, 6-1 in a one-sided contest to advance to the last eight at the MSLTA courts here.

Two other upsets were recorded on the day. Qualifier Theertha Marchelle came back from the loss of the opening set to shock fifth-seeded Tejas Chaukulkar 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in one of the toughest matches of the day.

Lucky loser Raghav Jaisinghani also caused a flutter as he scored a creditable 6-4, 6-1 win over eighth-seeded Patlolla Reddy to book a last eight spot. Fourth-seeded Chandril Sood, sixth-seeded Prithvi Sekhar, seventh-seeded Paramveer Bajwa, lucky loser Gokul Suresh and Lakshya Gupta were the other players to make it to the quarter-finals.

The results: Men's singles (Pre-quarterfinals): Ishaque Eqbal bt 1-Jatin Dahiya(IND) 6-2, 6-1; Theertha Marcherla bt 5-Tejas Chaukulkar 2-6, 6-2, 6-4; Raghav Jaisinghani bt 8-Patlolla Reddy 6-4, 6-1; 7-Paramveer Bajwa bt Sahil Gaware (IND) 6-2, 6-4; Gokul Suresh bt Rohin Gajaree 6-1, 6-1; 6-Prithvi Sekhar bt (WC) Atharva Sharma 6-1, 6-4; 4-Chandril Sood bt Lakshit Sood 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-5; Lakshya Gupta bt Boopathy Sakthivel 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.