Prajnesh in pre-quarters, Mukund at his fighting best
Second seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan in the second round of the $162,480 Challenger tennis tournament in Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei, on Tuesday.
In the first round, Sasi Kumar Mukund was at his fighting best as he made light of a mid match slump to beat Goncalo Oliveira 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6). Mukund converted two breakpoints to three by his opponent. He won 114 points to 116 by his opponent, but Mukund won the points that mattered in the climax.
In the $500,000 WTA event in Guangzhou, Ankita Raina was beaten in the second and final qualifying round by Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-1, 6-1.
In the ITF men’s Futures in Cairo, Dhruv Sunish combined with Muzammil Murtaza of Pakistan to beat top seeds Lenny Hampel of Austria and Aryan Goveas in straight sets.
The results:
$500,000 WTA, Guangzhou, China
Qualifying singles (second and final round): Magdalena Frech (POL) bt Ankita Raina 6-1, 6-1; First round: Ankita Raina bt Sachia Vickery (US) 6-3, 6-2.
$162,480 Challenger, Kaohsiung, Chinese Taipei
Singles (second round): Prajnesh Gunneswaran bt Shuichi Sekiguchi (JPN) 6-3, 6-2; First round: Sasi Kumar Mukund bt Goncalo Oliveira 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6).
$15,000 ITF men, Nanchang, China
Singles (first round): Anirudh Chandrasekar t Aliaksandr Liaonenka (BLR) 6-3, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Muzammil Murtaza (PAK) & Dhruv Sunish bt Lenny Hampel (AUT) & Aryan Goveas 6-3, 6-4.
$15,000 ITF women, Tabarka, Tunisia
Singles (first round): Alessandra Simone (ITA) bt Humera Shaik 6-1, 6-1; Diana Chehoudi (NED) bt Jennifer Luikham 6-2, 6-1; Alice Gillan (GBR) bt Niditra Rajmohan 6-1, 6-1; Katharina Hering (GER) bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-1, 6-1.
$15,000 ITF women, Cairo, Egypt
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Sathwika Sama & Saumya Vig bt Bojana Marinkovic (SRB) & Anastasia Zolotareva (RUS) 6-1, 6-2; Tamara Milosevic (SRB) & Avika Sagwal bt Margarita Lazareva & Anna Makhorikina (RUS) 2-6, 6-4, [10-8].
(Courtesy: The Hindu)
