NEW DELHI, October 8 (www.dsclopentennis.com) - The top two seeds Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) and left-handed Vinod Sridhar (Tamil Nadu) today took their appointed place in the men's singles title clash at the 13th DSCL Open National Championship at the DLTA Complex here.

The top-seeded Aqeel Khan beat back a stiff challenge by India's top junior Karan Rastogi - who was celebrating his 18th birthday - while No. 2 Vinod Sridhar gave himself the chance to regain the crown he won two years ago by playing crafty tennis to defeat the wily wildcard entrant Nitin Kirtane in three sets.

The third seed Sonal Phadke exposed the top-seeded Isha Lakhani's inadequate fitness with a straight set win that put her in the final against Delhi left-hander, No.2 Sana Bhambri who ended Sandhya Nagaraj's dream run with a facile win in the women's singles semifinal.

Sana Bhambri, top-seeded in the girls' under-18 draw, was taken to three sets for the first during her semifinal victory over Karnataka's GK Shwetha and will meet Parul Goswami in an all-Delhi final. The boys' under-18 final will be contested between the top two seeds, Rupesh Roy and Vivek Shokeen.

Aqeel Khan rallied from a break down in the third set to leave Karan Rastogi gasping. It did look like the India's best junior player had found the key to beating Aqeel Khan when he had him pinned on his backhand but the sinewy 24-year-old from Karachi stuck to the basics admirably and broke the Mumbaikar's will with his doughty spirit.

The quality of contest was high as Aqeel Khan and Karan Rastogi won their service games until the top seed rode on some unforced errors by his rival to win the crucial break in the 12th game to win the opening set. The teenager picked himself up from the floor and broke the Pakistani's serve three times to claim the second set.

And, when Karan Rastogi broke Aqeel Khan's serve in the fourth game of the third set, it appeared as if he was giving himself a wonderful birthday present - a place in the final of the National championship. But suddenly and almost inexplicably, the teenager started playing some loose tennis and allowed Aqeel Khan to come back into the match.

Breaking Karan Rastogi's serve in the fifth game inspired the top seed to play with renewed vigour. The Mumbaikar had a chance to break Aqeel Khan's serve in the 10th game and close out a win but he did not grab that. The Pakistani escaped elimination and immediately secured the decisive break for a win in two hours and 27 minutes.

Vinod Sridhar did not have to struggle as long to quell three-time National champion Nitin Kirtane. To the Pune left-hander's credit, he did not throw in the towel after being a break down in the second set and managed to leave his imprint by stretching the fitter second seed into a third set.

The results:
Men's singles (semifinals): 1 Aqeel Khan (Pakistan) beat Karan Rastogi (Maharashtra) 7-5, 1-6, 7-5; 2 Vinod Sridhar (Tamil Nadu) beat Nitin Kirtane (Maharashtra) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

Women's singles (semifinals): Sonal Phake (Maharashtra) beat 1 Isha Lakhani (Maharashtra) 7-5, 7-5; 2 Sana Bhambri (Delhi) Sandhya Nagaraj (Tamil Nadu) 6-1, 6-1.

Boys' under-18 singles (semifinals): 1 Rupesh Roy (Bengal) beat Rahul Makharia (Maharashtra) 6-2, 6-4; 2 Vivek Shokeen (Delhi) beat 16 Siddharth Gulati (Delhi) 6-0, 6-3.

Girls' under-18 singles (semifinals): 1 Sana Bhambri (Delhi) beat 3 GK Shweta (Karnataka) 6-3, 2-6, 6-0; 2 Parul Goswami (Delhi) beat 6 Preethi Subramaniam (Tamil Nadu) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.