Fabrice Santoro of France defeats Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, 7-6, 6-2, in second-round play in the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championship in Newport yesterday.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

NEWPORT — He was a star on the Indian Davis Cup team for 16 years and a champion on the men’s pro tour for 14 years. He won 16 tournaments and was runner-up in 9.

But when his son called out, “Hey, Pops, take these!” Vijay Amritraj turned and took three water bottles from his son. And then he laughed with an observer who kidded him about being a water boy after winning three Hall of Fame championships when he wore a younger man’s clothes.

Prakash Amritraj is in the semifinals of the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, the first of his career, and “Pops” couldn’t be happier. Father grabbed son in a bear hug after son dispatched countryman Rohan Bopanna, 6-4, 6-3, yesterday in their quarterfinal match on a sun-splashed outside court at the Newport Casino.

Amritraj will play seventh-seeded Canadian Frank Dancevic tomorrow. Dancevic defeated fourth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia, 7-5, 6-3, in the other quarterfinal yesterday.

“I’m glad he did it here,” Vijay said after putting the bottles down. “I have so many memories here. So many people have come up to me and said they remember when I won here. Now we all have grown kids.”

Vijay Amritraj won the first Hall of Fame tournament in 1976, when it was a 16-man exhibition. He defeated Brian Teacher. The tournament became an official stop on the men’s circuit in 1977 (Tim Gullikson won), and Amritraj returned in 1980 and won, defeating Andrew Pattison in the three-set final.

He came back in 1984 and won for the third time, beating the New England favorite Tim Mayotte in three sets in the final. He also won doubles titles in 1983 with John Fitzgerald and in 1986 with Tim Wilkison and reached the semifinals in singles in 1988. His last appearance as a player was in 1989, when he lost in the first round.

Fourteen years passed before Vijay returned to Newport. He flew in for a day in 2003 to watch Prakash, a wild-card recipient, play Robby Ginepri in the first round. Ginepri won in straight sets and went on and won the tournament. He did not see his son reach the Hall of Fame quarterfinals last year.

Amritraj father and son have spent the last month together, three weeks in England and a week here. Vijay and Gene Mayer played senior men’s doubles at Wimbledon.

“I’m trying to work around my business (real estate in Asia, goodwill ambassador for Rolex, Visa, American Airlines and founder of the Vijay Amritraj Foundation) to be with him,” Vijay said of his son. They hit with each other, and Vijay offers a few tips.

“You know you have to keep your mouth shut 90 percent of the time. It’s tough as a coach but much tougher as a dad. He knows it, and I know it, but I think he likes having me there.”

And when they do disagree? Vijay laughed.

“You can fire me as a coach, but you can’t fire me as a dad.”

Serious again, Vijay said “it’s more important for him to feel comfortable.”

Prakash agreed that reaching his first ATP semifinal in Newport is extra meaningful.

“Kitzbuhel would be great also, but here it is special,” he said, noting that he heard about Newport as well as Wimbledon when he was growing up.

“I was talking to my dad in the locker room before my match today, and I asked him if the lockers were the same. Identical, he said. I looked and saw Bill Tilden’s name on a locker. There’s so much history in Newport. It’s nice to make my breakthrough here.”

Prakash is the first Indian semifinalist at the Hall of Fame since Leander Paes won in 1998. If Prakash can win two more matches, he and “Pops” will join Phil and Taylor Dent as the only father-son champions in ATP history.

Today’s lineup

Two quarterfinal matches are on today’s schedule. American Vincent Spadea will play Austrian Alexander Peya, and defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France will meet Ivan Navarro of Spain. Two doubles matches complete the card.

Spadea upset third-seeded Nicolas Mahut of France, 6-2, 6-3, yesterday , and Peya eliminated sixth-seeded Donald Young, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Mahut was the runner-up last year. Santoro beat Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and Navarro defeated South African Kevin Anderson, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4.

This is Spadea’s seventh visit to Newport. He has run the gamut from qualifier (1994) to first-round loser (1997) to quarterfinalist (2004, 2005, 2007) to runner-up (2005 to Greg Rusedski).

mszostak@projo.com