Sasi Kumar Mukund knocks out sixth seed Jay Clarke in Pune Challenger
Wild card entrant Sasi Kumar sustained his good work in recent weeks and got past sixth seed Jay Clarke of Britain in the pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Pune on Wednesday.
Mukund led 5-7, 6-4, 4-1 when his opponent retired. In the quarterfinals, Mukund will play top seed Radu Albot of Moldova.
Champion of the $150,000 event last week in Bengaluru, fourth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran dropped four games in setting up a quarterfinal against Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan.
Arjun Kadhe was beaten in the pre-quarterfinals by Brayden Schnur of Canada, and tumbled out of the doubles in partnership with Saketh Myneni as the duo was beaten by the third-seeded Taipei team.
Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Ramkumar Ramanathan made the doubles semifinals, while Siddanth Banthia and Anvit Bendre combined to make the quarterfinals. They will play fourth seeds Andrej Martin of Slovakia and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile.
Purav Raja, seeded No.1 in partnership with Antonio Sancic of Croatia, was beaten 13-11 in the super tie-break by Max Pucell and Luke Savilleof Australia.
The results:
Singles (pre-quarterfinals): Radu Albot (Mda) bt Maverick Banes (Aus) 6-3, 6-1; Sasi KKumar Mukund bt Jay Clarke (GBR) 5-7, 6-4, 4-1 (retired); Prajnesh gunneswaran bt lucas Gerch (Ger) 6-1, 6-3; Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) bt Ben Patael (Isr) 7-5, 6-4; Sebastian Fanselow (Ger) bt Max Purcell (Aus) 6-2, 6-1; Elias Ymer (Swe) bt Daniel Masur (Ger) 6-3, 7-6(4); Frederico Ferreira Silva (Por) bt Nicola Kuhn (Esp) 7-5, 7-5; Brayden Schnur (Can) bt Arjjun Kadhe 7-5, 6-2.
Doubles (quarterfinals): Max Purcell & Luke Saville (Aus) bt Antonio Sancic (Cro) & Purav Raja 5-7, 6-3, 13-11; Cheng-eng Hssieh & Tsung Hua Yang (Tpe) bt Arjun Kadhe & Saketh Myneni 6-3, 7-6(9); Vijay Sundar Prashanth & Ramkumar Ramanathan bt Sanjar Fayziev (Uzb) & Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz) 6-3, 6-4.
Pre-quarterfinals: Siddanth Banthia & Anvit Bendre bt Kunal Anand & Shahbaaz Khan 6-2, 6-4.
