Indian challenge in ITF Satellite ends

The Indian challenge in the ITF Satellite tennis tournament singles came to an end when national champion Mustafa Ghouse lost his pre-quarter-final match to third seed Oliver Marach of Austria 4-6, 1-6 in just 55 minutes, at the NSCI, in Bombay, on Wednesday.

Ghouse played a good first set but found his serve letting him down time and again. He dropped serve in the ninth game before losing the set 4-6.

In the second set, the Indian hardly troubled the Austrian and could win just one game.

Top seed Artem Derepasko of Russia had an easy time beating lesser-known Englishman Jonathan Marray 6-4, 6-2 while qualifier Michail Elgin of Russia, who had stunned second seed Ivan Vajda of Croatia on Tuesday, rallied well to pip another qualifier David Sherwood of England 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3 on way to the last eight stage.

Derepasko's match lasted one hour while Elgin took two hours 15 minutes to beat the Englishman.