Delhi [ Images ] lad Divij Sharan showed he has it in him to slug it out with the big guys when he defeated third seed Kedar Tembe of Maharashtra [ Images ] in straight sets to storm into the semi-finals in the 12th DSCL Open National Tennis championship at the DLTA courts on Thursday.

Sharan, who was given a wild card in the championship following a creditable performance in the junior circuit this year, never looked under pressure against his experienced opponent, winning 6-4, 6-4 in an hour-and-a-half.

The 17-year-old south-paw had accounted for fifth seed Jaco Mathew in the first round and then got the better of fellow-junior player Tushar Liberhan to enter the last eight.

He will now face top seed Vinod Sridhar, who thrashed seventh seed Somdev Verman 6-2, 6-0.

But it was not a good day for another promising youngster, Sanam Singh, who seemed to suffer from big match nerves and lost to sixth seed Kamala Kannan 2-6, 6-7(1/7).

The 15-year-old, who was out of action for six months due to illness early this year, had shown great temperament to reach the last eight. But the Chandigarh-based lad not only failed to rise to the occasion but also looked tired against his hard-hitting opponent.

Kannan now faces second seed Punna Vishal of Andhra Pradesh, who ended the dream run of Delhi's Gurmehar Singh 6-4, 6-4.

The women's draw played to the script as all seeded players made it to the last four stage even as the two Hyderabad-based teenagers -- Afreen Jahan and Punam Reddy -- saw their winning streaks come to a halt.

Afreen, who had yesterday shown the door to top seed Lisa Pareira, lost to fifth seed Shruti Dhawan 4-6, 1-6 while Punam, who defeated Sai Jayalakshmi, lost to seventh seed Samrita Sekhar 3-6, 6-3, 5-7 respectively.

Dhawan will now meet fourth seed Ankita Bhambri while Sekhar will face wild card entrant and the younger of the Bhambri sisters, Sanaa.

Ankita accounted for Parul Goswami 6-1, 6-4 while Sanaa eased past Lata Assudani 6-1, 6-1.

In the boys' section, 13th seed Navdeep Singh, who had knocked out top seed Rupesh Roy of West Bengal [ Images ], stormed into the semis by defeating J Vishnu [ Images ] Vardhan of Andhra Pradesh 6-2 6-1. He now meets third seed Saurabh Kohli of Maharashtra for a place in the summit clash.

Delhi lass Parul Goswami's dream run in the girls' section continued as she knocked out fourth seed Sandri Gangotri 6-2, 6-2 to set up a date with second seed Madhura Ranganathan.

In the other semi-final, top seed Sanaa Bhambri will meet third seed S Punam Reddy.

Results (quarter-finals):

Men's singles: Vinod Sridhar (TN) beat Somdev Verman (TN) 6-2, 6-0; Divij Sharan (DLI) beat Kedar Tembe (MAH) 6-4, 6-4; Kamala Kannan (TN) beat Sanam Singh (CHD) 6-2, 7-6(7/1); Punna Vishal (AP) beat Gurmehar Singh (DLI) 6-4, 6-4.

Women's singles: Shruti Dhawan (CHD) beat Afreen Jahan (AP) 6-4, 6-1; Ankita Bhambri (DLI) beat Parul Goswami (DLI) 6-1, 6-4; Sanaa Bhambri (DLI) beat Lata Assudani (MAH) 6-1, 6-1; Samrita Sekhar (TN) beat Punam Reddy (AP) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Boys' singles: Navdeep Singh (DLI) beat J Vishnu Vardhan (AP) 6-2, 6-1, Saurabh Kohli (MAH) Siddharth Gulati (MAH) 6-3, 6-4; N Jeevan (TN) beat Sanam Singh (CHD) 6-3, 6-3; Divij Sharan (DLI) beat S P Gupta (DLI) 6-0, 6-2.

Girls' singles: Sanaa Bhambri (DLI) beat Kartiki Bhat 6-4, 6-4; Punam Reddy (AP) beat Vandana Murali (TN) 7-6(7/2), 2-6, 6-4; Parul Goswami (DLI) beat Sandri Gangotri (AP) 6-2, 6-2; Madhura Ranganathan (TN) beat Preeti Subramaniam (TN) 6-2; 6-2.