Sasi Kumar Mukund knocks out second seed in Jerusalem

Sasi Kumar Mukund bounced back from an indifferent start to tame the second seeded John Patrick Smith of Australia 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the pre-quarterfinals of the $54,160 Challenger tennis tournament in Jerusalem on Thursday.

In a battle fought on equal terms, Mukund served eight aces to the 12 by his opponent. Both converted three break points each, and Sasi Kumar won 74 points to 73 by the 30-year-old Aussie, who was ranked a career best 108 in 2015.

In the quarterfinals, the 22-year-old Sasi Kumar will play Filip Peliwo of Canada.

Saketh Myneni also sailed into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tak Khunn Wang of France and will play wild card Edan Leshem of Israel in the quarterfinals.

In the ATP event in Geneva, Divij Sharan in partnership with Philipp Oswald of Austria was beaten 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles semifinals by Matthew Ebden and Robert Lindstedt. Divij and partner collected 90 ATP points and €8,240.

In the $25,000 ITF women’s event in Singapore, third seed Rutuja Bhossale was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 by Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia who had won the Asian Games mixed doubles gold with Christopher Rungkat. Rutuja, however, won the doubles quarterfinals in partnership with Nudnida Luangnam of Thailand.

The results:

€ 586,140 ATP, Geneva, Switzerland
Doubles (semifinals): Matthew Ebden (AUS) & Robert Lindstedt (SWE) bt Philipp Oswald (AUT) & Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-2.

$54,160 Challenger, Jerusalem, Israel
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Saketh Myneni bt Tak Khunn Wang (TPE) 6-4, 6-4; Sasi Kumar Mukund bt John Patrick Smith (AUS) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

$25,000 ITF men, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Doubles (quarterfinals): Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA) bt Kelsey Stevenson (CAN) & Rishab Agarwal 6-1, 6-0; Pre-quarterfianls: Anton Chekhov (RUS) & Khumoyun Sultanov (UZB) bt Jose Fco Vidal Azorin (ESP) & Adil Kalyanpur 6-7(3), 7-5, [10-6].

$15,000 ITF men, Kampala, Uganda
Doubles (pre-quarterfinals): Ahmed Choudhary & Muzammil Murtaza (PAK) bt Darryl Hale 9GBR) & Anshumat Srivastava 6-4, 6-3; Diego Fernandez Flores (CHI) & Joao arcos Nusdeo (BRA) bt Tarun Anirudh Chilakalapudi & Abhinav Sanjeev Shanmugam 7-5, 6-3; Kunal Anand & SD Prajwal Dev bt Sergey Bolotov & Alexey Dubinn (RUS) 6-4, 6-2.

$25,000 ITF women, Singapore
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Nudnida Luangnam (THA) bt Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-1; Aldila Sutjiadi (INA) bt Rutuja Bhosale 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Tamara Curovic (SRB) & Angelina Gabueva (RUS) bt Abigail Tere-Apisah (PNG) & Riya Bhatia 6-4, 6-1; Nudnida Luangnam (THA) & Rutuja Bhossale bt Nastja Kolar (SLO) & Alexandra Riley (US) 6-0, 6-0.

$25,000 ITF women, Nonthaburi, Thailand
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Peangtarn Plipuech (THA) bt Zeel Desai 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

Doubles (quarterfinals): Haruka Kaji & Risa Ozaki (JPN) bt Ho Ching Wu (HKG) & Snehal Mane 6-3, 6-3.

$15,000 ITF women, Antalya, Turkey
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Gabriela Mihaylova (BUL) bt Jennier Luikham 6-2, 6-2.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)